Standard and Poor is still trying to keep people out of real estate and in stocks.  Why else would they make a big deal of November home prices falling "at a record pace?" (http://tinyurl.com/2b2pkf)

I'll bet you didn't see this headline today.  It was the only positive note in the Commerce Department's report at http://tinyurl.com/bp7jt.  The Northeast  region is experiencing less of hit to new home sales than any other part of the country.  In 2007 there was a 1.6% advance in sales over 2006 at a time when the West recorded a decline of 32.2%, the Midwest 26.7%, and the South 26.3%.

Keep in mind these are new home sales, not "resales."

And, like all numbers on the real estate market, it depends on where you live.  There is no national real estate market.

The CBS news magazine program. "60 Minutes," did a real estate piece yesterday that approached reality.  They focused on Stockton, California, generally regarded as one of the hardest-hit markets in the subprime mortgage meltdown.  It was clear that times are very difficult in Stockton, with hundreds of mortgages in default, foreclosure or bank ownership.

But, once again, there was an allusion to Stockton being perhaps typical of conditions across the country.  Stockton is a worst-case scenario, not typical, anymore than the oil patch towns of Texas are typical in their booming economy, or the city of Charlotte, NC.

Maybe eventually the media will catch on that they can spotlight individual markets without extrapolating from them a general overall "national real estate market." 

Maybe.  Don't hold your breath.