I knew these days were coming. Now, the question is how long it will take people to wake up to this fact. When it becomes cheaper to own than rent, you have hit bottom. Things may go a little lower, but they are constrained by rents.

Is anyone aware of any charts of home prices vs. rent. It would be interesting to see. I bought my first house in 1998 when it was clearly cheaper to own than rent (my PITI total for my 2BR/2BA was less than the rent on my 1 BR apartment). I’m not sure the situation is quite that good yet, but it’s getting there.

What I’m really trying to say is that when the economy comes back, housing is going to take off again, at least around here. We are headed towards another under-built situation like the late 90’s when you couldn’t find new houses because of the early 90s swoon.