Don't buy media's Gloom and Doom: housing market downturn is a much-needed market correction.

• Author: Newcomb, Jr., Ken
• Position: ADVICE: REAL ESTATE

DOES ANYONE EVER GET tired of watching the news and reading in different print media nothing but "Doom and Gloom"? The national media for the most part emphasizes just that in reporting on the front page of newspapers and lead stories on national news that the "Housing Bubble" is ruining our economy and that the stock market is poised for crash because the Dow dropped 0.6 percent in one day) Did these guys not take Economics 101?

The housing market and the economy have seen a healthy rise for at least the last seven or eight years, with many housing markets in Indiana seeing 8 to 12 percent increases in yearly home sales over that term. The sensationalism created by the media over a downturn in the housing market is nothing more than a much-needed market correction. If it didn't happen we would all be living in homes valued at prices much higher than the true market value.

The one thing that every economist should know is that whatever market you are in, or what commodity is being sold, the economy is ruled by one single factor: The Law of Supply and Demand. The more supply, the price drops; less supply, more demand, and the price rises. In our economy real estate prices in the housing and commercial market could not keep rising at the pace of the past. The market corrects itself, and if we could magically take away the statistics from California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, the rest of the U.S. is in pretty good shape. The subprime mortgage fiasco is reminiscent of the savings and loan problem of the...