More Housing Bubble News... Is There Any Other Kind?

More housing bubble news in an article from cbsnews.com. The article provides a lot of real numbers and mentions the DC market in particular in a few examples. From the article:

Consider the case of the Washington, D.C., area. According to NAR, the price-to-income ratio has averaged about 2-to-1 for the past 25 years and now stands at a record 3.4-to-1, or 70 percent above its normal level. Assuming incomes grow 5 percent a year in the D.C. area (the average of the past decade), home prices would have to drop 25 percent for this ratio to return to its historic average within the next five years.

Comparing the costs of owning vs. renting, the article goes on to say:

A typical three-bedroom townhouse in Fairlington recently sold for $575,000. Assuming the owner put 10 percent down and took out a traditional 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, the monthly payment would be just under $3,200. Add in property taxes, a condo fee, and the tax breaks for home ownership, and the cost of owning this unit comes to about $3,000 a month. ... Yet the very same place rents for no more than $1,700 a month, or just over half the cost of ownership.

I'm not one to buy in to all the bubble burst hype - mostly because I know it's a vicioius cycle: the more people get scared and begin acting out of fear, the worse the situation gets... which in turn scares more people - but I must say as a prospective home buyer in the DC area, I'm disappointed by these numbers. There's no question the housing market has been on an anomolous high and is due for a landing. I just feel the landing can be soft if we just keep our wits about us.