As we take a moment to reflect on the past year, it becomes obvious that the housing market bust crippled the economy. What made this cyclical bust in the real estate and related ETF markets different from the others?

Unrealistic assumptions, multiple layers of investors and obscene prices in the commercial real estate market are all part of the reason why the current housing bust is costlier and more complicated than previous ones, comment Mara Der Hovanesian and Dean Foust for BusinessWeek. Average housing prices have already plummeted 41% from the 2007 peak.