Prices are not declining. Prices are getting back to where they should be.. Back to where they before all you other brokers bought and sold and bought and sold for an absurd profit. YOU artificially inflated home sales and now they are going back down to where they should be. It is called market stability. Your friend did not LOOSE $40k. They lost the investment intended for inflated profit. Because prices are returning to what normal should be, more homes are selling because they are closer to being affordable now.But it is still (for now) a renters market. That will soon change once prices drop a bit more, and banks start lending again to a buyers market.