Actually, we’ll start this post the way we usually end some posts, i.e. File under: Duh!

That’s our reaction to the list of the 15 best housing markets over the next five years. Almost all of them are today’s basket case markets — in Florida, California, Arizona, etc.

They have no where to go but up, therefore they make the best future housing markets.

Granted, it’s good to know who or what product might one day be on the rise, for the biggest profits are often made by buying low. But this is definitely one “best” list that Bostonians should be happy not to be on.

When inflation is taken into consideration, yes, we are back to ’90s prices, according to some calculations.

Under apparent pressure from City Hall, Trinity Financial is once again talking about putting a new Stop & Shop in the Bulfinch Triangle area, near the North End, the BBJ is reporting in its print edition (subscription required for online stories).

Trinity had recently announced that Stop & Shop no longer wanted to open a new supermarket at One Canal Street, despite previous plans and calls to do so. The no-go decision apparently didn’t please City Hall and North End residents — and so Trinity and the huge supermarket chain are in discussions again about how to open a new store at One Canal, according to the BBJ.

We can only imagine what type of pressure was brought to bear on the two parties. After all, it’s not exactly smart to anger Mayor Menino in this town.

File under: Build it — and they will come

Tim Warren, the respected CEO of the Warren Group, publisher of Banker & Tradesman, isn’t one to mince words when times are tough. He calls them like he sees them. Most of his calls over the past three or four years have accurately reflected what’s going on in the markets (mostly negative, in recent times).

So it’s a little heartening to now hear Warren say 2012 is probably going to be a good year for housing in Massachusetts.

We’ll take it!

File under: Happy New Year!

The latest Case-Shiller housing report isn’t too encouraging: Nineteen of 20 metro markets saw a decline in home prices in October.

One word: Gulp (assuming gulp is a word). Boston also saw a decline.

But here’s the good news: Boston and most other U.S. cities have nevertheless still seen annualized increases in home prices, if only small increases.

File under: There’s always next year