On February 5th, we told you that the start of 2006 resembled the start of 2004. We reinforced this idea on February 8th, and many times since then.

Today, March 21st, Dr. Jay Butler of ASU's Center for the Extended Belaborment of the Obvious, finally arrives at the same conclusion, even though the trend has been obvious since the end of January. Properly belaboring the obvious takes time, after all.

Dr. Butler also released his calcuations on median home values for the month of February, up for the month, surprisingly enough, and a net positive for the year-to-date.