[nomadking]

All the hiding did was delay matters and transfer who had to bear the losses. It was a sort of "pass the parcel" with the "winner" taking the losses. Those losses were a result of unpaid debts.

In the UK it was the Labour government(eg Homebuy scheme) and the media pressurising people to buy, in order to make easy money. There was a TV programme were a very recent graduate had bought a 3 bed house just for themselves as an investment, not as a home. This belief that anybody should be able to buy a house is nonsense. As with any "crash" the lure of easy money to be made by simply waiting, was the problem. They felt that they didn't have to repay the loan, just wait for the "inevitable" profit and sell.

The point remains that people are bleating about it being more difficult nowadays, and in the past complained about it being too easy. The 2 eras are not comparable in terms of number of people buying houses.