Housing Bubble

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A housing bubble is a period of above-average levels of house price growth. According to BusinessDictionary.com, “A housing bubble is a temporary condition caused by unjustified speculation in the housing market that leads to a rapid increase in real estate prices,” (BusinessDictionary.com). A drop in prices back to or lower than the original price level must then follow this. The drop in house prices begins at the point where the bubble “bursts”. According to McConnell, Brue, and Flynn’s Macroeconomics, “Some of the primary causes of the housing bubble are low mortgage interest rates, low short-term interest rates, relaxed standards for mortgage loans, and irrational exuberance,” (McConnell) There are many participants who contributes to
Mortgage-backed securities reduced the risk of exposure, or cost, that banks faced after issuing these subprime loans. Mortgage-backed securities encouraged banks to keep lending in subprime markets. These mortgage-backed securities reduced the risk exposure that banks faced. This reduced risk increased the amount of subprime loans banks made to the subprime market. However, because of banks also making loans to the groups purchasing the mortgage-backed securities, this reduction in risk was a mere
This would only happen if the loans in these investments went into default and were not paid off. According to David Paul, president of Fiscal Strategies Group, American International Group issued $450 billion (Paul). Collateralized default swaps became yet another category of investment security that was highly exposed to mortgage-loan risk. In 2010, author Michael Lewis released a novel title, “The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine”. In the novel, Lewis explores the stock market crash of 2008. He examines the bond market and subprime mortgage bonds that led to the crash. Lewis goes through the crash from the perspectives of the group of people who saw the crash coming and either kept quiet to protect large investments or they were too shocked to speak

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