From the Vancouver Real Estate Anecdote Archive:
At the very most any policy intervention would only forestall the inevitable crash. To cause an ‘orderly unwinding’ of a bubble you require an orderly and never-ending supply of buyers willing to take on large amounts of (albeit cheap) debt to buy assets that are falling in value and still grossly overpriced….
Policy change to prop up the market via new buyers would simply delay and magnify the bust, not resolve it. The pool of people facing certain future financial hardships would grow even larger.
Truer words were never spoken. When the housing market begins its correction (and many of us believe it already has), the last thing the government should do is try to stem the tide. It only prolongs the pain, wastes taxpayer money, and rewards those who foolishly bought into the real estate hype.
Deleveraging is inherently a painful process, and the sooner we get it over with, the better.