Gas prices and real estate

I was recently reading an article that stated that the housing bubble was popped by spike in fuel costs. When most people think of the housing bubble being popped, they think about the sub prime mortgages or economy and not the price of gasoline. A new analysis shows cities and neighborhoods that require lengthy commutes and provide few transportation alternatives to the automobile are falling in real estate value more quickly than cities and neighborhoods that do offer these things. People also have less money today than they did a few years ago to buy houses because their disposable income is being eaten up by high gas prices. This is just an FYI: Average gas prices in '02 were $1.10 and today they are well over $3 a gallon. I think this is one of the reasons that Little Rock has not seen the big drop in housing prices that other parts of the country have. You can live in West Little Rock and be just a few miles from Downtown and you can live in North Little Rock and be just a few miles from downtown. I have noticed in my business a desire for buyers to stay close to the city where they work because they can't afford the price of gas that a lengthy commute would give them. There are also sellers in Chenal, for instance, who want to move in closer to the heart of West Little Rock or Downtown because the drive is getting to be too much on their wallet. I think we have fared pretty well here in Little Rock, but all of this does make sense. We are just lucky to have a relatively small city with all of the great conveniences of a large city with a lot less driving.