do you know how many houses in the last couple of years are "investment houses"? about 40%, that basically tells you that people uses house as investment tools. Just like the dotcom bubble, it will burst eventually. There is no fundamental difference between the housing market and stock market.

The truth is, either way, the housing market eventually will recover. The question whether the government can make it smoother for the whole society to move to recover. Judging by today, laissez-faire is out of fashion, Obama is doing the right thing.