When falling housing prices are good news — and when they're not

Home prices are falling in Denver and other areas around the nation. Scott Olson/Getty Images hide caption toggle caption Scott Olson/Getty Images A few weeks ago, we asked our readers for ideas and questions for future Planet Money newsletters and podcasts. We got a bunch of great submissions, including an intriguing one from Karl Baumgartner. Baumgartner is a 29-year-old internal medicine resident in Denver, where home prices and rents have been falling. Depending on which data you look at, the Denver metro area is experiencing one of the steepest — if not the steepest — housing price declines in the nation. Home prices have fallen more than 2% year over year, according to the S&P Cotality Case-Shiller Home Price Index , and even more if you adjust for inflation. Rents have fallen even more dramatically . "As a renter myself, I am ecstatic about the falling prices," Baumgartner writes. In fact, he just moved "to a bigger apartment with nicer amenities that I previously couldn't afford, but now can because rent has fallen." One of his friends, meanwhile, recently renegotiated her lease for about $500 less per month by showing her landlord that comparable apartments in her area were now going for much less. "With almost all of my friends being in a similar position at the beginning of our careers with plenty of debt, we are all very excited about the decrease," Baumgartner says. So, yeah, falling rents are obviously a win for Denver renters. …