Two measures provide conflicting answers. Home price increases have traditionally kept pace with income, and that measure has returned to its historical average, suggesting that housing prices are close to returning to normal. But a separate gauge, which tracks home prices increases against rent increases, shows that the housing market is still overvalued by around 15%, suggesting that it has further to fall.I'd say that rental prices, which are a substitute for buying, are the better measure. A third measure, which the WSJ didn't discuss, is inflation-adjusted home prices. Adjusted for inflation, housing is still way overvalued.
In fact, I'd say there's something fishy going on with the price-to-income ratio. For incomes to have kept pace with housing prices, there must have been a dramatic increase in real incomes. However, many economists like Paul Krugman have been repeatedly pointing out that median real incomes have not increased during this decade.
Are there any economists out there who want to take a stab at this?