Dear aspiring homeowner: Can you sell high-yield bonds on Wall Street? No? Well, you're competing against companies who can. And they've decided that the housing market is so batshit that they're better off building new. Which they can do. Because they have a $1.4b market cap.

Do... you have a 9-figure market cap? No? Then you can rent from those who do at whatever rates they think are fair. And no you can't complain about it. You got a new refrigerator and Cash for Clunkers. Or maybe you didn't because you were ten but that's beside the point the fact of the matter is, the largesse of the government towards its citizens in the midst of the recession was ENTIRELY EQUITABLE TO ALL.

Yesterday, a house I watch sold for $1.1m. It had gone on the market in March at $1.6m. That's somebody's retirement, downsized by 33% (and half a million dollars). Last week, a house I watch sold for $360k. It had gone on the market three weeks previously for $345k. That's somebody's American Dream, upsized by $15k.

The first house is 4,000 square feet on the ocean with a pool and a fountain. The second house is 672 square feet with a half bath and no roof. There's no capital-based distortions in this market, nosireebob.