Another day, another report from the Wall Street Journal about how home prices continue to drop. But perhaps this latest one has an extra-special attribute: time-travel.
Home prices, it seems, are as low as they’ve been since 2002 or so. (It’s almost like the housing bubble never happened! Almost.)
“Based on incomes, this is as affordable as it gets,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics. “If you can get a loan, these are pretty good times to buy.”
That last part is important – loan standards are getting ever more stringent as mortgage lenders grow wary of buyers who might default due to unstable credit or shaky job prospects. And interest rates are slowly starting to climb.
Still, here’s what the average man on the street (of Wall Street Journal readers, anyway) believes:
