Good points GD, and agreed Bugs. BobS, your point is good too, but payments can be mis-leading depending on the type of loan.
Rents cannot rise beyond incomes either. Rents may increase as the bubble deflates and could potentially lessen price declines, but both are ruled by income.
If incomes (stagnate at best, not to mention rising unemployment i.e. fewer people with those incomes) don’t keep up with the cost of either then both are overinflated. I can see how rents and prices could stay high for a while in a transitional period, and diminish in appearance the size of the bubble, but I don’t see how both can stay unaffordably high long enough for incomes to catch up. The same reason people are losing their homes will mean they eventaully can’t afford higher rents. Going into a housing-induced recession will eventually lead to a deeper drop in rents and prices, until incomes catch up. And if the past 2 bubbles are any indication, there will be an over-correction.
I think we will start to see people move away in droves from these high cost markets.