Yale University economist Robert Shiller recently calculated the long-term trend in U. S. housing prices. The good news? His conclusion is that since 1890, housing prices have risen 0.4 percent per year after inflation.
Had the calculations begun in 1960, the result would have been that prices rose 0.8 percent per year, he says.
Ending the calculations at 2000, before the housing bubble, would have reduced the estimate of growth from 1960 through 2000 to 0.2 percent.
Shiller concluded that despite the current housing slump, home prices are still above their long-term trend.
Published in the REALTOR, Feb 8, 2008
