Real estate people tend to borrow a lot of money. Minimum 70% LTV = 3x leverage = a 33% decline wipes out all their equity. And especially in big cities the "h

Real estate people tend to borrow a lot of money. Minimum 70% LTV = 3x leverage = a 33% decline wipes out all their equity. And especially in big cities the "high-quality" real estate is usually break-even and all profit is made on appreciation, so any drop in income might mean some of them can't hold the property. If they have to sell their properties and take a huge loss, it doesn't really affect you or me - it just means a different group of rich people will become the new landlords. But the old landlords won't like it, and it probably qualifies as news.