With bad news hitting the real estate market month after month, it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger, global picture. Namely, even though many economists predict that prices may continue to fall, thus expressing a view that U.S. real estate is still overpriced, real estate in America’s top cities is cheap when compared with the rest of the world. Consider this: at an average $1,068 per square foot, Manhattan real estate is prohibitively expensive for most Americans — yet is more than three times cheaper than real estate in Paris, an average $3,287 per square foot.