Another factor is the current investment environment. Bonds and CDs have very low yields, equities are too risky to fully depend on in many cases, there's fear

Another factor is the current investment environment. Bonds and CDs have very low yields, equities are too risky to fully depend on in many cases, there's fear of inflation. People may instead be parking money in assets such as real estate. Then when the economy (hopefully) recovers in 2-3 years they'll have new cash flow.