Tuesday, May 1, 2007

The Fall of Property Values

The price on propertyhas fallen slightly, at least in the Milwaukee area. This has been predicted by many for quite some time. They have dubbed it "the housing bubble."

While no one knows whether or not housing prices will plummet or simply have a "soft landing," one this is entirely clear: political groups will use it to justify their stance on certain issues.

Take, for example, the Milwaukee Teachers Union. They ran ads opposing "school choice" and wanted the governor to keep the "cap" or eliminate the program entirely. In their ads, they claimed that if the choice program expanded, it would result in declining property values.

What evidence do they have to make this claim? None that I'm aware of. But I do know that property values have been declining.

Therefore, I offer this prediction--the next time a teacher's union runs ads condemning school choice, they will reference the statistics on declining property values and blame it on the school choice program.