I think Perry is right, there are probably a lot of these people out there. That negative appreciation is the real killer — if homes are only going down 2% a year, you’re losing $10K/year on your $500K home. Even if we had rent/payment parity for the same property (which we don’t), that small negative appreciation throws the renter’s side of the equation waaaaaay ahead. I have been dinged before on this forum for saying that you shouldn’t buy unless it’s cheaper than renting (using 20% down, fixed 30 year loan), but I believe that those days will return. It may be 2010 or even later, but we’ll get there eventually.
