--- description: If you’re waiting to sell your house because you think prices will continue to rise, don’t title: 4 Charts That Will Totally Ruin Your Saturday image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5b06ce83739360d/698698a806f2c1e43032f927/140623_ho_prevhousbubble_1.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [housing](/tag/housing/) ## housing Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # 4 Charts That Will Totally Ruin Your Saturday by [Chris Matthews](/author/chris-matthews/) ## Chris Matthews Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 19, 2014 1:36 PM CUT  Housing development under construction on farmland, aerial view. Housing development under construction on farmland, aerial view.Ryan McVay—Getty Images by [Chris Matthews](/author/chris-matthews/) ## Chris Matthews Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 19, 2014 1:36 PM CUT  This post is in partnership with Fortune, which offers the latest business and finance news. Read the article below originally published at[Fortune.com](http://fortune.com/2014/07/16/the-day-apples-steve-jobs-called-ibms-best-customers-an-orifice/ "undefined"). The housing recovery [that began in 2012](http://business.time.com/2012/05/15/report-housing-market-recovery-has-officially-begun/ "undefined") came on almost as quickly and forcefully as the real estate crash that preceded it. The combination of low interest rates, investor interest, and good, old-fashioned confidence conspired to cause a rapid and vigorous turnaround in home prices after years of tumbling or stagnant home values. But a number of key metrics suggest that the party is over, and any future home price appreciation will be slow and steady from here on out. Here are four charts showing why the housing recovery has ended: 1\. Price-to-rent ratios are near their long-term average. Price-to-rent ratios are an important housing indicator that can tell you whether the housing market is overvalued. During the housing bubble, this metric skyrocketed, as speculative fever led people to believe that housing prices would always rise. But the fact that rent rates didn’t rise with purchase prices should have been a warning that the underlying demand for shelter hadn’t increased as much as the demand for owning property as an asset. As you can see, price-to-rent ratios have snuck up above their historical averages, meaning that home values are already a little pricey relative to rents in many markets. 2\. Homeownership rates are also near their long-term average.In the decades leading up to the housing bubble, politicians pushed policies that would increase the homeownership rate. The theory was that homeownership gave people a vested interest in the economy and in their neighborhoods, and that would lead to greater prosperity. But giving out credit to those who didn’t have the wherewithal to afford a home was one factor that led to the failure of the subprime mortgage market. It’s likely, now that policy makers are more aware of the dangers of pushing homeownership, that those rates will remain in the 64% or 65% historical average. For the rest of the story, [go to Fortune.com](http://fortune.com/2014/07/18/housing-recovery-us/ "undefined"). ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3007451/housing-recovery-2/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3007451/housing-recovery-2/"},"headline":"4 Charts That Will Totally Ruin Your Saturday","datePublished":"2014-07-19T13:36:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:08:04.771Z","description":"If you’re waiting to sell your house because you think prices will continue to rise, don’t","url":"https://time.com/3007451/housing-recovery-2/","keywords":["housing","Economy"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5b06ce83739360d/698698a806f2c1e43032f927/140623_ho_prevhousbubble_1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chris Matthews","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/chris-matthews/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5b06ce83739360d/698698a806f2c1e43032f927/140623_ho_prevhousbubble_1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"140623_HO_PrevHousBubble_1","caption":"Housing development under construction on farmland, aerial view.","creditText":"Ryan McVay—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/housing/","name":"housing"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3007451/housing-recovery-2/","name":"4 Charts That Will Totally Ruin Your Saturday"}}]}] ```