Maned, the silver lining is right there for you:
The more they screw around with artificial controls, the worse the situation gets. Housing prices will plummet more, if they artificially attempt to control them. An artificial bottom on housing prices will deter buyers like you and me from entering the market, reducing demand and bloating supply.
I'm just about ready to buy, man. I've got most of my down payment set aside... once I get my tax return and pay for some free-lance jobs I've been doing on the side during weekends, I'm ready to see what I can get for loans and start shopping for a house.
But, I won't do it in an artificially imposed market.
It's like the stocks I bought a few months ago. I bought GS at about $75 a share. It used to be valued at about $250 a share, 18 months ago or so. It dropped to $65 a share after I bought it... but today it's at $96. If a floor were imposed on GS (or any stock) back when it was at $125 and falling, my money wouldn't have made it into the market at all.
If the McMansions here drop from $400K to a natural market point of $225K, I might be tempted to buy one. If they get price-fixed to a floor of $350K though, there's no way. I'll buy something smaller and older and let those idiots who bought the McMansion @ $400K roast in their own juices.
That is, unless Obama can somehow dictate that I HAVE to buy a McMansion at $350K because I have the MEANS and someone else NEEDS me to do so. At that point I blow my entire house down payment on gold, silver, copper and lead.