BusinessWeek Predicts 15 Year Housing Slump

We've reached the milestone in the great US housing collapse where mainstream media is starting to report what's been obvious to some for years:

Housing: Curb Your Enthusiasm About A Recovery. Good article.

Housing booms are short and exciting. Housing busts, on the other hand, are long and painful. So don't put much faith in those oft-heard assertions that the worst is already over. Prices are likely to fall further in many markets in 2007. In some others, prices may rise, but at less than the rate of inflation. A BusinessWeek analysis of the past three decades shows that if history repeats itself, it's likely to take 15 years or more for many parts of the country to get back to their inflation-adjusted peaks.

Even if the mainstream is slow, at least it's nice to read. In contrast, leading-edge blogs generally read like barely coherent ramblings of an angry man, are as dry as the Calgary air, or both. Here's some more good readin'

Boom sparks 'rent vs. own' debate. Erick Eschker, Humboldt State University economics professor:

”I don't think we've ever seen it this bad here. Not since the Great Depression has there been such a difference between (rents and mortgages),” Eschker said. “I would be a fool to purchase a house right now, unless I could find a house at the pre-boom prices. I think we are in trouble and I'm not going to lie about it.”