Okay, to update my post from yesterday.  Not the "whole" country.  In the 20 cities tracked by Standard & Poor's home price index.  In my area, Long Island, in included in this average of 15.3%  The issue I have is this, Long Island is lumped in with NYC and some of Jersey, Connecticut and Pennsylvania.  NYC hasn't seen their prices dropping like everywhere else.  The Hamptons are just starting to see their prices being effected.  The average, suburban home on Long Island has seen considerable losses in value over the last 1.5-2 years.

I went to an Appraisal Institute meeting where Jonathan Miller spoke.  His company tracks values across 20 market areas across the country.  They even create the regional market reports for my company, Prudential Douglas Elliman quarterly.  My company is the #4 company in the country and #1 in NY. What really struck me was when he said, South Florida has 10 YEARS worth of inventory at the rate it is selling!!! 

Where will it all end?  Prices have to be where the salaries are.  Salaries aren't rising as fast as property taxes (at least not on Long Island), gas, oil, food, ect.  If homes aren't affordable, then nobody buys. When the prices get to the range of affordable within the parameter of an area's salaries, then they will sell again.  Good old economics, supply and demand.  My office is booming. That is because we service many of the "lower" priced areas in Suffolk County.  There actually IS a pent up demand for homes valued between $200-300K.  In the last couple of years, they didn't exist. Now they are plentiful. Of course, many of these are short sales.   And around we go again, see my prior posts for info on short sales, what they are, and their effect on home values.

For some fun, here is a new photo of my baby,  Little Bit.  He's up to 2.2 pounds!