[mumblemumble]

In 2008/2009, there were also lots of people who were previously priced out, but that didn't help stem the tide of foreclosures. The depth of the "order book" is far from the whole story when you're dealing with an illiquid, non-fungible good that's also encumbered by a lien.

Here's a concrete example that I can take from my own life experience: there was a house we were quite interested in buying. The house's realistic value for the market at the time should have been something we could afford. But the owners simply couldn't let it go for less than about $50,000 more than that, because that was the price at which they could pay off their home loan. So, too bad, no deal. And apparently nobody else would buy it at that price, either. About a year later, this gorgeous, well-cared-for house was foreclosed on, and then at some later date people broke in and ripped out all the copper and whatnot, and so this house eventually got auctioned off as a rehab/teardown job for a (presumable) fraction of what we would have bought it for.