> Nobody’s buying property where they think the price will fall.
Regular people do this all the time. Every renter on the planet is "buying property" that will have $0 resale value to them when they leave, for example.
If every house depreciated to exactly $0 upon move out (or even just depreciated at a controlled normal rate, similar to Japan's housing), most regular people would still buy houses. You still have to live somewhere, and plenty of people would prefer to own rather than rent -- even at a zero dollar resale value.
Regular people do this all the time. Every renter on the planet is "buying property" that will have $0 resale value to them when they leave, for example.
If every house depreciated to exactly $0 upon move out (or even just depreciated at a controlled normal rate, similar to Japan's housing), most regular people would still buy houses. You still have to live somewhere, and plenty of people would prefer to own rather than rent -- even at a zero dollar resale value.