Well AN I guess I stand corrected on the salary increases. Note however that the rate hikes really started in 79 and continued for about 5 years.

Anyways the biggest problem as I see it has to do with employment and quality jobs. The job growth in both quality and quantity of jobs was extraordinary in that time frame. Outsourcing was just barely starting. These days… well not so much. As your data shows a 19% increase from 2000-2010… pretty pathetic….

Finally what is not shown is the great deception. Although rates have not gone up much, cost of living has. We love to hear inflation is tame but over the past few years we have all been paying much higher prices for food, water and energy.

Anyways I will not digress on that stuff. Getting to your main point, yes buying in 2008 was not only great due to lower prices but mainly for lower rates. To me investors buying with cash were foolish. Saving a cash pile for the day when rates are high seems to make more sense. Then you have a bunch of properties leveraged at a low rate AND you have cash to buy high yielding bonds. Again, the only crux is that you have a lower valuation on that RE but if you are holding it for a rental, so what.