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http://vimeo.com/3261363

Missed one aspect. The government helped push the "no down payment mortgage".

Well, in ireland you didn't have the government trying to push through a "no downpayment mortgage", but the banks did it anyway. They practically pushed the loans on you "You too can own a home. We'll provide 100% financing, just sign the dotted line".
Similarly to the US they asumed that the housing prices would always increase and they would always be able to reposses a house and still sell it with a profit should the debtor default on the loan.
Just there came the time when the housing prices became so high and inflated that they became unaffordable for most people. Suddenly the bubble burst. IIRC the same happened in Japan 20 years ago.
These countries don't have affirmative action, there is was just the greed of both bankers and buyers alike (many people didn't see a house as home for themselves anymore, but as an investment to be bought with borrowed money and then to be resold at a profit. In the end it was pure speculation, a giant Ponzi scheme. The first ones in it made a killing, but those who joined late, lost out).

Jan

http://unclejayexplains.com/2009/05/17/ ... y-18-2009/

Pretty well stated, Jan.

However, and I don't know if this applies in Europe, government here at all levels benefitted from the increase in taxes and spending that the housing bubble brought.

And these governments had no intention of stopping this because of that.

This bubble has way too many fathers.

AndesSMF wrote:Pretty well stated, Jan.

However, and I don't know if this applies in Europe, government here at all levels benefitted from the increase in taxes and spending that the housing bubble brought.

And these governments had no intention of stopping this because of that.

This bubble has way too many fathers.

Don't forget that in Ireland, as in most other countries, the legislators as well as the members of the executive are owners of real estate themselves and in most cases are not really poor. A lot of them have profited themselves from the housing bubble and had no wish to stop it.

Jan