That could very well be the case: http://www.economist.com/finance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13491933 http://www.economist.com/finance/displayStory.cfm?story_id

That could very well be the case: http://www.economist.com/finance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=13491933 http://www.economist.com/finance/displayStory.cfm?story_id=1... "Whether stability is such a good thing in a downturn, though, is a different matter. A decade ago Andrew Oswald of Warwick University argued that owning your own home makes you more reluctant to move, so labour markets tend to become more rigid as home ownership increases. He claimed that increases in the level of home ownership (though not necessarily the level itself) are associated with rises in unemployment. Ireland, Greece and Spain all saw large increases in home ownership in the 1980s and 1990s, and had relatively high unemployment. America and Switzerland had stable ownership rates, and escaped the long-term rise in joblessness."