[bpjam]

Employment is ONE of the factors that affects real estate markets. And it is a different level of importance in each market. And the fact that houses are taking longer to sell but prices aren't going down is indicative that there was no bubble to burst. And also indicative that you do not have a high level of investor/speculator purchases in Northern Virginia (unlike the D.C. market, for instance). Real estate markets are like politics - its all local until you can create one big overwhelming trend that can nationalize it (ie, interest rates, stock market stagnation, capital gains tax reductions,etc).

But that you can sell your house at all and prices are noticeably higher than 5 years ago, you can give credit directly to Newt Gingrich for creating the capital gains tax exemption for homeowners. It freed up $1T in real estate and created the boom we saw this past decade.

[TheLion]

Just read today that builders will have to build 40,000 new homes a year to keep up with the demand in Northern Virginia for the next 5 years....something never done before.