US house prices below 1979 levels in real terms

Source: Chartoftheday.comUS house prices remain on a “downward path” according to today’s latest S&P Case-Shiller house price index. S&P report that in terms of nominal prices (including inflation), “average home prices across the US are now at similar levels to late 2003”. In ‘real terms’ (after excluding inflation), the picture is even worse.
According to the above chart from ChartOfTheDay, “a home buyer who bought the median priced single-family home at the 1979 peak has actually seen that home lose value (1.6% loss)”. COTD adds that “the median priced home has moved back to the top of a trading range that existed from the late 1970s into the mid-1990s”.