Looks like the UK's Telegraph is buying the "houses are selling for less than a used car" story hook line and sinker. The UK daily is reporting:
"The mortgage crisis in America has deepened so much that family homes can now be bought for less than 15,200 - the price of a new car. A four-bedroom home near the original Motown recording studio in Detroit recently sold for 3,700 ($7,000), less than most used cars. A boarded-up bungalow fetched 685, and a three-bedroom house listed for 276,000 attracted just 69,000."
Ok, let's clear something up right here and right now — "can now be bought" implies it's something new. Everyone who lives here in the D knows you've been able to buy homes on West Grand Boulevard in the sub-$10,000 range for many years now. Some people call it "depressed" — I'd merely call it a "bargain" market. Kind of like how one journalist might call something used as an example an "anecdote," while others would call it "sensationalism." But whatevs, it's totally all the same as long as papers are sold, right?
A house costs less than a car in Detroit [Telegraph.co.uk]
Related:
Depreciation Party PT.2 - Detroit Housing Market So Bad, Cars Cost More [internal]