Can you see the the similarities?

First Graph: US Housing prices 1987 to 2007 (courtesy NY Times)



Second Graph: Japan Land Prices 1980 to 2005:


Japan's housing market peaked in 1990. It then slowly and painfully fell for 15 years. During this 15 years the BOJ (Bank of Japan) lowered interest rates to 0%. And still the market declined for a decade and a half.

Look at the slope of Japan 1985-1990 and US 2000 to 2005, almost identical. But we're special and different in the US. The basic laws of supply/demand don't apply to us.