re: Current housing surge vs. last decade's housing surge

IMO prices reaching all time highs isn't necessarily alarming, as housing prices have steadily increased (generally) over the last century. The prices during the housing bubble were artificially high due to absurd lending practices (encouraged by the gov't) and corrupt banking (also encouraged by the gov't).

Although prices may be creeping up again with the low interest rate environment, if you look at a graph of historical housing prices, they are much more aligned today with the historical uptrend. It's not nearly as "bubblish" as it was 6 years ago.