I don’t know what the answer is but having our prime real-estate in the USA lose value is not the answer or good for anyone.
The answer is, people should learn to take responsibility for their actions. When the prices were skyrocketing, all those “hard-working guys” were proud of their “smart” investments in RE. Today they are not investors any more, they are victims, mislead by greedy and dishonest lenders…
Our laws are already extremely mild: one can get an astronomical loan on a pathetic piece of property, then refi hundreds of kilobucks out of it and when the music stops just walk away with only a scar on his credit record. I think everybody should be obliged to repay any loan they take to the last cent, no matter what.