The differences between the US situation post-financial crisis and Japan in 1990 are stark. The previous post outlined how extreme things got in Japan and how ahead of itself the Japanese stock market, real estate market and economy got. While Japan was exposed to “extreme extremes” the US economy experienced imbalances that could be worked off much more quickly. Real Estate Excess Has Been Wrung Out Over 5-years The US experienced multiple years’ worth of double digit real estate gains. The gains were spectacular and fueled by credit standards which continued to loosen until the point where the housing market evolved into the concept of “renting with the option to own”. When mortgage financing was willing to underwrite this type of one-way asymmetric risk the party was bound to...
