HOUSING-market

The Brighter Side of Housing, an article from The Wall Street Journal Online, reports the silver lining of the housing downturn is that it is helping some people buy homes that they couldn't afford a couple of years ago.  The Wall Street Journal's quarterly survey of housing-market conditions in 28 major metro areas points to continued downward pressure on prices in much of the country, which is causing some buyers to continue holding out for better deals.  Prices in many areas are adjusting back toward more affordable levels, a process that could take several years.  According to Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City Corp., in most of the country, "we're getting a return to normalcy" in the relation between home prices and incomes.  Jan Hatzius, Goldman Sachs' chief U.S. economist, says the share of a typical family's income needed to pay mortgage payments on a median-priced home averaged about 17.5% from 1993 to 2003, before jumping to 26% in 2006.  That number has now  fallen to 20% and is likely to keep declining as home prices fall.