Rich’s graphs are based on local wage, population and pricing trendlines. I feel very comfortable using those trendlines when making these comparisons.
1997 definitely wasn’t the bottom, but it was sill a little below the long term (local) pricing trendline. I think prices intersected the long term trend in 1998; logically that would be the point at which to base comparisons on where prices “should be”.
That is, unless one believes in some variation of the now-debunked New Paradigm or Soft Landing scenarios that predict a reset of the long term pricing trends at the much higher levels.
