When it comes to pricing in the housing market, most metropolitan areas have had two lost decades. In nine out of the nineteen S&P/Case-Shiller cities with statistics as far back as 1991, true prices are less today than they were twenty years ago. In four of these areas — Atlanta, Cleveland, Detroit and Las Vegas — real prices dropped more than 15 percent over that time.

The incongruent nature of those four cities reminds us that it is feasible to lose big on housing in hastily growing cities, such as Atlanta and Las Vegas, and in declining cities, such as Cleveland and Detroit.

About the existing market, the best that can be said is that it offers abundant affordability and the majority of economic recovery doesn’t depend on a big housing rebound.

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