Incomes’ rise no match for housing, data show

Analysts link gap, shaky real estate market

BY STEPHEN OHLEMACHER THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON — Since 1990, homeowners have faced a growing gap between their incomes and the price of their homes, according to an Associated Press analysis of new census data.

The widening gap in all but a handful of the nation’s 500 largest cities helped make the recent boom in housing prices unsustainable, according to analysts. They note that rising prices were fueled largely by low interest rates and risky loans, rather than increasing incomes.

“We had an artificial economy,” said Brad Geisen, founder of Foreclosure.com, a Web site that lists foreclosure properties. “There was all this wealth created in real estate, and it wasn’t really created.”

For more information see today's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. Subscribers can read the story here on ArkansasOnline.