i’m probably the last person to post about this, but as pete and i have been angry at and lamenting over the dire state of the housing market of late (i.e. it’s so expensive it pushes out all but the very wealthy, particularly in some major urban areas)…
we have some money, but not enough to live in the places we’d *prefer* to live…if money was no object.
i’m guessing we’re not alone?
home prices in the united states, adjusted for inflation, are apparently at the highest they have EVER been:
yale economist robert j. shiller’s history of home values as printed in the new york times.
a video that shows shiller’s history of home values from 1895 to the present in the guise of an animated roller coaster.
other possible signs of impending doom (?):
-unending war
-cost of gas is rising…not highest ever, but still!
-cost of food is also going up, up, up. it’s somewhat tied to gas prices, natch.
-the dollar is weak against other currencies. increasingly so since bush has been in office…and increasingly so since the article linked was written. our national debt is in the trillions.
anyone else out there feeling pinched? or perhaps a little scared?
or are you feeling confident? do you think the current economy as it stands right now is sustainable?
it’s all a question mark right now…all i know is, i’m uncomfortable with the choices for us as they stand now (i.e. i am not comfortable with being “house poor” no matter how much i want my own property and also, not clear or happy about wanting to live in the contrived, only-reachable by car ‘burbs). we feel stuck between an overvalued, unattainable, expensive rock and a contrived, soulless hard place.
the future is cloudy, for us personally, and perhaps, for the world at large as well. it all remains to be seen, eh?
Comments (11)
but the stock market, the stock market!!!! 14000!!!!
mike: and? that’s “good”?
no, i’m just saying. there are rumors suggesting that china is investing large amounts of usd into the stock market rather than buying treasuries. other people are saying that pinched shorts are being covered. another theory is that the cheap dollar attracts other foreign investment.
http://www.housingdoom.com
we’re in for a roller coaster over the next few years. my suggestion is rent until things stabilize a bit more. housing prices are ridiculously inflated, and it really isnt sustainable.
Some more links for ya, forgot to send these the other day:
http://www.bloglines.com/public/topping : look at the ‘Economic’ and ‘Housing Bubble’ sections.
More importantly: http://patrick.net/housing/crash.html
When we got home the other day, I eventually bumped into the second link and gradually came back off my frenzy to buy that place. LOL!!!
While most states have a higher minimum wage, a lot can be said in that the National Minimum Wage is $5.15 and has been effective since September 1997. 10 years running now the nation has showed just how much it cares for the lower/middle class. When I told this to one of my liberal yet still right-winged co-workers, she exclaimed “I don’t believe it! I had no idea!”…yeah…thanks for voting buttmunch.
move to canada?
but, yes, things are not at the best of times right now.
this also depends on where you live. while the sub-prime lending has been an issue in other places, new york is not affected much.
Here’s another good link. It shows year-over-year changes in the price of homes, where zero on the y axis means no growth over the year before.
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2007/07/case-shiller-ho.html
So it looks like home prices have finally started going down by an official measure. This measures speed, not position… in other words it’s a derivative graph based on where home prices are going, not where they are, and the current trajectory of the graph means that home prices are falling at an increasing rate. So if this graph bottoms out or even starts to point upward in negative territory, that means home prices are *still falling*, just not as fast. (I hope that makes a semblance of sense to people who didn’t take advanced math.)
@brian, thanks for the update. i love barry’s blog, been reading it for awhile now. the comments on his blog are always astute.
there’s definitely something wrt being saddled with student loan debt as well. we’re paying off some of that as well right now, and its definitely a drain on things.
http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=de8_1186355765
Kramer may be nuts, but the man is speaking the truth.