Good Robert Samuelson column today in WaPo. Samuelson is on his usual theme, i.e. we cannot ignore economic realities:

Look at some numbers from the National Association of Realtors. From 2000 to 2006, median family income rose almost 14 percent, to $57,612. Over the same period, the median-priced existing home increased about 50 percent, to $221,900. By other indicators, the increase was even greater.
But home prices could not rise faster than incomes forever. Inevitably, the bust arrived. Credit standards have been tightened, and the (false) hope of perpetually rising home prices — along with the possibility of always selling at a profit — has evaporated. For many potential buyers, prices have to drop for housing to become affordable.

It’s always amazing to me that the media cannot see the good in declining housing prices. Personally, I’m praying for an enormous crash in housing prices in Manhattan, preferably around 35th Street between Park Avenue and Lexington. If that were followed by a collapse in the Ferrari market and the bespoke suit market, I’d be even happier.