It may be the case that nominal house prices have rarely if ever fallen
since WW II, but I would doubt their annual average percentage increase
over this period exceeds the capital gain on stocks and certain classes of
bonds, particularly when the carrying cost of this type of investment is
factored in. We bought our house in Ottawa 20 years ago, and its value has
risen steadily in tandem with the city's growth as a high-tech centre, but I
still calculate the average annual price increase in our home at about 5-6%
over that period, excluding maintenance, taxes, and interest charges. This
includes the sharp increase in house values over the past few years when the
stock market turned down from its peak in 2000.
Marv Gandall
- Original Message -
From: Daniel Davies [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Friday, July 23, 2004 6:47 AM
Subject: Re: [PEN-L] Housing prices
it's only happened once in the UK since the war.
dd
-Original Message-
From: PEN-L list [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf Of Michael
Pollak
Sent: 23 July 2004 03:12
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Housing prices
I recently read that nominal housing prices have never declined in the US
since WWII. Real prices have declined three times, durind the mid and
late seventies and the early 90s, but nominal prices never. Is that
really true? It makes it look as if people who think they're ever-rising,
rather than being delusive, have quite a track record -- you have to be a
wonk to have noticed any falls ever, and even those have been short and
fleeting.
If it is true, is there any non-bubble-headed explanation for it?
And how come it's true here but not in the UK?
Michael
