[JNB]

For housing, one also has to keep in mind while the house was smaller, the lots were bigger, so it sort of comes out in the wash. As for the anti sprawl regulations, you have a good point, but some areas were more impacted than others in this regaurd. None the less, the median purchasing power has been in decline for about 30 years. Yes, the credit standards being a bit looser has helped blunt this impact of loss of purchasing power and kept the economy going, but this situation can not last forever.

[buwaya]

Some places were very much affected by anti-sprawl legislation, and numerous other regulations besides. These are the very places that pushed the median price up the most. Home prices at least doubled in the SF Bay Area 1996-2001 for instance.

The low interest rates are probably the second biggest culprit. My home has doubled in market value since we bought it, but we could have bought it yesterday at its present value paying about as much monthly (leave out property tax and insurance) as we did then.