The end of the housing boom near

NEW YORK — Much of the nation has had a lovely real estate boom for the past five years, but the house party is almost over and the cleanup won’t be pretty.

That’s the word from economists and investors who have watched housing prices march ever higher.

“The collapse of the housing bubble will throw the economy into a recession, and quite likely a severe recession,” warned a July report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

In recent weeks, many major investment firms have concurred. Said a Lehman Brothers report, “(A) turn in the housing market is central to our economic forecast. “

“The demographic story behind the housing market boom, as we always thought, was a giant hoax,” wrote Merrill Lynch & Co.’s North American Economist, David Rosenberg, in a recent report.

The Center for Economic and Policy Research predicts a housing bubble burst would mean the loss of 5 million to 6.3 million jobs.

The housing run-up has financed consumer spending, creating more than $5 trillion in bubble wealth, the center estimates. Consumers have used “cash-out” mortgages to pay for everything from new kitchens to college tuition.

A final nightmare scenario: A federal bailout of the mortgage market is likely if housing crashes, the center predicts.