$500,000 is the new $1 million

[jeffrey]

Half a million dollars is, by almost any standard, a lot of money. But during the past few years, when credit was easy and regulations were loose, for many Americans it didn't seem like all that much.

That's because they were able to borrow huge amounts of money to buy new homes, often with little or nothing down. And while most homes sold in the United States, even at the height of the housing bubble, were $500,000 or less, rising prices in many major cities and affluent suburbs around the country pushed the cost of a three-bedroom home into seven figures or more.

But the gap between $500,000 and $1 million is more than monetary. It is also psychological. And during the recent boom years, Americans became reckless consumers, buying cars, houses, clothes and much more that they couldn't really afford. The dream of a $1 million home, once so distant, became tantalizingly reachable...

The million-dollar-home dream goes poof! - Buying a House - MSN Real Estate