Fascinating chart of housing prices in the US since 1890.
That said, as Kottke notices, houses today are not what they used to be. Averaging square footage into it would almost certainly change the graphs substantially.
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Housing go Boom
Fascinating chart of housing prices in the US since 1890. That said, as Kottke notices, houses today are not what they used to be. Averaging square footage into it…
And yet the main point of the chart is the important part. Look at the past two housing downturns and now that the bubble seems to have either burst or a small leak is just starting, that journey back down to 110 will be rather interesting.
Yeah.
I moved out here right on the big downhill slope after the last one. Made selling my townhouse back in California (which I’d fully re-fi’ed up at the top) a thing of joy, let me tell you. 😛
For me watching the price climb is a bit scary. Our modest little home and 25 hectares of land were worth about $175,000 five years ago. Then people suddenly really, really wanted to live in this out of the way valley and now we’re evaluated over $350,000.
That would be fine if we wanted to sell this house, but we don’t. We just want to live here. There’s a very real possibility that during our retirement we’ll have to give up our home because its value will ratchet up our taxes and insurances to levels too high for us to pay.
Equity is great, if you want to cash it out. But we don’t.
I know what you mean about the McMansions. People are building them here–monstrous, huge, three storey places with umpteen bathrooms. The ultimate in conspicuous consumption, the Hummer’s of homes.