Right, the owned house is somewhere you can live even while the numbers on paper go haywire for a while. Related to this, the same market crashes that can dip t

Right, the owned house is somewhere you can live even while the numbers on paper go haywire for a while. Related to this, the same market crashes that can dip the asset values and put someone underwater can also affect other income streams, making it difficult to continue to make payments. If people feel at risk in such circumstances, they might liquidate those other assets in an attempt to protect the house, and in the worst case still fail later and have to surrender the house too. The more rational behavior migth be to walk away from the house and possibly see the other assets recover, but that depends on being able to secure other living arrangements in a difficult time.