27 SEP 2009, Sunday

1. The good news on housing affordability for our kids.
2. “For some perspective into the all-important US real estate market, today’s chart illustrates the US median price of a single-family home over the past 39 years. Not only did housing prices increase at a rapid rate from 1991 to 2005, the rate at which housing prices increased – increased.
   That brings us to today’s chart which illustrates how housing prices are currently 30% off their 2005 peak. In fact, a home buyer who bought the median priced single-family home at the 1979 peak has seen that home appreciate by a mere 4%. Not an impressive performance considering that three decades have passed. Over the past two months, single-family home prices have resumed their decline and remain (until proven otherwise) in an accelerated downtrend.”
3. Hoping for lower for them!
4. Quick political thought: If the Fed has been a major source of problems, Congress is much worse. They were the great enablers of the crisis, readily corruptible, bought and paid for by the banking industry and completely failed to provide proper oversight over the financial system. I find Congress to be the worse of two evils — lacking in objectivity, incapable of producing legitimate regulatory review. To be found in “contempt of Congress” would require an improvement in opinion of them. If the Fed is Wall Street’s bitch, than Congress is the Street’s whore.
5. Stock market historical valuations? Hmm...here's one scary picture. The break from norms occurred in the mid 1990's. Are we going to stabilize at a "new norms" level or will return toward historical levels? Dunno. But you can check this link from DecisionPoint.com for some perspective.