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Comment by ejcx | Hacker News Reader

I don't think anything about Bowie or PG county is notable given its location. The entire DC area is propped up by the defense industry.

Everywhere else in the country is really different. DC didn't even experience the 2008 great recession

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I don't know why you think we didn't experience the Great Recession. Housing prices crashed all over the DC area, except in Washington proper, which had a lesser decline, due largely to very low inventory. In my area of Prince Georges County, my townhouse lost about 30% of its value and the mega-mansions down the road lost about 50% of their value. Several friends lost jobs and had a hard time finding new ones. Yes, DC is a unique environment in some ways, but we aren't immune to economic downturns.

The metropolitan areas around certain cities, such as DC, are in a much different situation than those that experienced a structural loss in value. Around DC, there might have been a temporary loss in value due to reduced economic activity, but overall, the value trends upwards.

But if you look at places from the Northeast (excluding BOS/NYC/PHL) towns, all the way to Midwest to the South that had factories close and not come back, those are still cratered and going down. There simply isn't enough economic activity to support populations, so reduced demand, plus whatever demand there is can't afford to pay much.

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