Interesting news. I've heard that real estate prices haven't budged much and with the stock market remaining relatively strong, I wonder if we will see a corresponding rebound in rent sometime soon.
I think real estate will follow later. I've seen price cuts of $100-200K on the units that actually sell. Real estate is sticky - many people hold the line on price hoping that a buyer will come along later - and the economic crisis is just beginning to hit the sector of society that's a potential home-buyer in the Bay Area. There's also a fair bit of pent-up demand that sees this as a bargain-hunting opportunity and will still rush in - price won't drop significantly until those buyers have all bought or changed their minds.
Real estate here bottomed in 2010 after the 08-09 recession. It took about 2 years to make its way from profits to stock prices to layoffs to home prices.
I think real estate hasn't really moved because supply and demand moved together. Fewer people moving around means fewer sellers and fewer buyers. Hell, prices could even go up if the number of sellers shrinks by more than the number of buyers shrinks.
Real estate here bottomed in 2010 after the 08-09 recession. It took about 2 years to make its way from profits to stock prices to layoffs to home prices.