US housing market shows no sign of bubble

New York

WHEN a parking space in Manhattan costs US$136,000 and only 15 per cent of San Francisco's homes are affordable for the middle class, it's easy to worry that another housing bubble is around the corner.

The vast majority of American homeowners have little to fear: A new gauge from Nationwide Insurance in Columbus, Ohio, suggests the national market is in its best shape since 2001 and there's no reason to fear a national downturn, no less a bursting bubble.