LUNAR LAND PRICES ARE BOOMING!

UBS strategists said their “esoteric research” of archived news reports suggests lunar property trends may even be a leading indicator of U.S. house prices.

Rising sharply between 1997 and 2001, the cost of a slice of land on the moon suffered a mid-cycle retreat in 2002-03 after the dot.com bubble burst, the bank said.

But prices defied gravity to hit record highs of $37 per acre in December 2005 — nine months before U.S. housing peaked.

Their fall to earth was a step ahead too, with lunar prices dropping 56 percent to $16 per acre between 2005 and January 2007, the report said.

“Our calculations suggest lunar land prices appear to be a reasonable lead indicator of U.S. house prices by around 12 months. This suggests a trough in U.S. house prices may occur around the beginning of 2008,” the bank said.

Sadly, the Moon has not yet suffered from an overbuilding problem. (Via Rand Simberg).

UPDATE: Reader Jeff Schultz emails: “Let’s hope this means the President and Congress will bail out those who bought lunar land at inflated prices. The lunar economy is depending on it!” Heh.