I disagree with most on this site because I feel that not many luxuries will disappear. I fully expect SUVs, “affordable luxury” items, large houses and what not to still be around after the bust. It may be that people consume less of those, or they may only have some but not all the trappings of excess, but let’s look at history. The 1980’s were called the decade of greed, but they were handily outdone by the 90’s dot com era excess. And the 00’s with their rapper lifestyle and absurdly expensive purses and cell phones makes the 90’s look modest. See the trend? The 10’s will be even more absurd, as the increase in the wealth of the world just keeps on going up. Don’t see that trend ending in the next two decades for certain. The housing bust will redistribute the wealth to different people (possibly foreigners) but it will go somewhere. It is not the valuation of houses which is really allowing us to have more stuff, it is the increasing production of goods, worldwide, that increases our material wealth. I can’t see that trend decreasing over the long haul (more than a decade).
