Housing prices are up and climbing still. But what happens if the so-called "housing bubble" bursts? Despite post-9/11 fears, a slumping stock market and rising unemployment, house prices may be the engine driving a recovery, and the best hope of sustaining it.
The thinking is "buy now, buy quick and pay anything" or risk paying even more later. Since 1995, prices in some cities have almost doubled, pumping up the home improvement industry, giving people faith that they are in on one investment that can't fail. But history teaches us real estate booms do bust, and when modest homes that cost $200,000 a decade ago sell for $500 thousand, prices could outrun a family's capacity to pay.
