Consumer sentiment is defying forecasts that the housing recession would leave Americans feeling less secure about their finances. A private survey showed home prices in the United States dropped in the first quarter as the supply of homes exceeded demand.

Home values nationwide declined 1.4 percent from the first quarter of 2006, the first decline since 1991, according to a report yesterday by S&P/Case-Shiller.

That's terrible! How can we recover from this???

The drop in prices over the last year pales in comparison to the 157 percent gain over the previous 15 years.

Oh. Never mind.

Source: Consumer confidence up; home prices down - Bloomberg News, by way of The Boston Globe