You can really see how the economy -- especially the housing market -- is deteriorating rapidly.

Just wait until all the people AROUND those houses are struck with lower property values -- wait till someone in one of those neighborhoods needs/wants to sell their house! The price will be WAY lower than they were expecting -- maybe even less than they still owe on their mortgage!

And not everyone can "wait it out" either -- how many marriages end in divorce these days? How often are jobs lost and people need to move? They will have to sell NOW and take a huge haircut on their house.

At any rate, you can forget about "cash-out" refinancing -- using a house's rising value as an ATM to go on vacations, buy SUVs, etc.

All that is going to cause the economy at large to COOL -- ergo, a recession/depression.

Matthew