[bert]

.......US real estate is worth about what it was in 2005....

To take it on a national basis misses the point. In many areas, the value has not diminished substantially. The collapse of the wildly inflated values is a coastal phenomenon

[JasonC]

Not my point, my point was that we continue to invest in real assets, to the tune of about $1 trillion a year, and those add to the value of our total wealth. One man can experience a decline in his wealth and another a gain, happens all the time. But it isn't remotely the same as the total wealth of the society dropping 40%. As for house prices and their gyrations, there is a seller for every buyer, and for every smuck who bought at the top, there is a clever man who sold at that same top.