What Are the Global Implications of a Downturn in US Housing?

Housing is crucial to finance because for the vast majority of people, it's the only readily available form of collateral. Non-bank mortgage lenders which make money from issuing mortgages have suffered a complete collapse in business. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have taken on an even larger share of the American mortgage market than they did before. And this is the flywheel of the US economy, as we've been saying since 2008.