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Personal Problems Resulting From the Great Housing Bubble

Published by Lawrence Roberts | December 26th 2008 | Views:

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The economic problems caused by asset price bubbles often lead to personal problems in the wake of the deflating bubble. Statistics about unemployment, foreclosure and bankruptcy are impersonal. The events that result in any one of these outcomes was anything but impersonal: these things happened to real people who had very real emotional responses. Many people during the fallout of the Great Housing Bubble experienced all three. Any one of these outcomes can lead to depression, suicide, divorce and a whole host of traumatic personal problems. All of it was preventable if the bubble was not allowed to inflate in the first place.

The volatility of price action during a bubble had a profound and capricious impact on people's financial lives. Many people became enriched by fortuitous timing. Some of these people were market savvy individuals who knew when to buy and sell in a volatile market; however, since the mindset of a successful trader was rare, and since most housing market participants were amateurs with emotional responses almost guaranteed to produce a loss, the majority of bubble participants lost a great deal of money. Some were lucky. Some people bought and sold at the right time due to life circumstances beyond their control. Those who transferred out of bubble markets for their careers and sold their houses at the peak reaped huge windfalls. Of course, for every seller who reaped a windfall, there was a buyer who faced major financial difficulties. The unequal distribution of gains and losses from bubble market volatility is not a positive feature.

Another group of people deeply impacted by bubble market volatility are those who chose not to participate. Some of these people recognized the bubble for what it was, and some could not set aside common sense to accept the fallacious beliefs of bubble mentality. This group was forced to rent during the bubble and subsequent decline. Many of these people would have preferred ownership, preferred to have the freedom to customize a property to their liking, and preferred to obtain the intangible benefits of ownership such as a feeling of community and belonging. These people had to endure the patient "waiting game" and feelings of groundlessness renting can entail.
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