On Tuesday, The Wall Street Journal’s Kelly Evans delivered stark news to recent homeowners. She reported that “since house prices peaked in 2006, the average home equity loss is $105,000 per homeowner.” Evans was reacting to the latest Case-Shiller report, which showed that between February and March, housing prices dropped in 18 out of 20 major metro areas. Driven in part by foreclosures, a glut of unsold homes and the reluctance of new purchases, many home prices reached their lowest level since the bubble burst in 2006. Does eight straight months of declining prices mean the end of new home construction; and if so, what would that mean for our economy? For the answer we speak to Richard Copeland, founder and CEO of THOR Construction Companies, and Nicolas Retsinas, director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University.
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