Running Up, Trickling Down

The run up in home prices during the boom years was fast and extreme, like an Andrew W.K. record. But the downward correction in prices—at least until recently—has been relatively slow and mild, like a Low record. In other words, the drop in home values we've seen so far is just a drop in the bucket compared to the value increases of past years.

Your reaction to this news depends on whether you're an optimist or a pessimist.

Pessimist: more price declines must be on the way to bring some balance back.

Optimist: people who bought their homes in the late 1990s or early 2000s are probably still sitting on a nice little chunk of appreciation.

Realist: The beauty of it (and the trouble of it) is that you're both right.

Comments

[John Watne]

I like how you gave a Wikipedia link for your W.K. reference.