Regular people are incentivized to pay as much in interest on their homes through tax deductions. With the tax deductions, paying an interest-only mortgage bec

Regular people are incentivized to pay as much in interest on their homes through tax deductions. With the tax deductions, paying an interest-only mortgage become MUCH less expensive than rent, so "buying" a house and planning to flip it after the interest-only period is up was an economically sound decision (and a lot of people still stand to gain.) This did drive up the price of housing as more people were entering home ownership.