it's both, and it's also government regulation and the economy generally.
Banks could sit on the property, possibly with tax breaks until market recovery, or lease the property instead of selling it.
The habit of turning one's house into one's convalescent care was something that started with the silent generation and is a kind of automatic default for the boomers (who wants to wipe their parent's asses?)
To be fair, I doubt any of the boomers expected their $30k investment to turn into a million plus by retirement, but their behavior since is damning.
You don't get clusterfucks like this without the cooperation of many screeching retards.
