patrick.net

"It was — note the past tense — the worst housing recession anyone but survivors of the Great Depression can remember.

From the frenzied peak of the real estate boom in 2005-2006 to the recession's trough earlier this year, home resales fell 38 percent and sales of new homes tumbled 76 percent. Construction of homes and apartments skidded 79 percent. And for the first time in more than four decades of record keeping, home prices posted consecutive annual declines.

A staggering $4 trillion in home equity was wiped out, and millions of Americans lost their homes through foreclosure.

Now take a deep breath and exhale. The worst is over."

Read the rest here:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090801/ap_on_bi_ge/us_housing_mid_year_outlook

This was on Yahoo! News.  You know people are reading it and gobbling it up.  I know the market will remain flat and on the bottom for some time to come, at least here in Southern California.  But, I bet some fence sitters are going to start jumping into the housing market sometime soon.

This does not bode well for those who are calling a return to 80's prices in the Westside of Los Angeles, you know the one's who say that $400 will get you a 3000 square foot house on a 15000 square foot lot in Santa Monica, north of Montana.  :P

#housing