Today in RISMedia magazine I read an article the left me wondering. (The hyperlink will take you to the article)

It says, "While predatory lending and subprime mortgages have taken the blame for the dramatic decrease in housing prices and the glut of foreclosures nationwide, a new analysis shows that rising fuel costs played a significant role in the collapse of America's housing bubble." 

The reason that is stated in the article is that with rising fuel cost people want to drive less. Well that makes perfect since to me.

It is kind of a double edge sword.

•1.       Because people don't want to live further out and commute, outlying areas housing price had to drop to entice people to buy them.

•2.       When you live closer to the hub of a city, land cost goes up and so do the prices of those house then cutting out a segment of the population who couldn't afford to live in those areas. Take away many of the lending practices that would allow people to purchase a home like that too...then you have a smaller pool of people who could purchase a home.

 They reference a study done in 5 different metropolitan areas and the shift in the housing price. They noticed a direct correlation to the decline in outlying areas while and increase in metropolitan areas.

The article concludes with 5 major points.

•-          Lower prices in outlying areas are going to continue as long as gas prices are high because of the commute owners would have by living there. They suggest governments planning accordingly

•-          Urban areas are going to see a rebirth since it will be closer to what people have to do. So downtown revitalization will become a hot item.

•-          More mass transit available for cities

•-          Reducing vehicle miles will helps stimulate the economy by freeing up gas money and also cuts down on greenhouse gases and oil consumption

•-          Outlying areas are going to be the areas that are more unstable because those families are more vulnerable to future gas price increase.

I just thought this to be a really interesting article and wanted to share it with all of you to see what you though.