The message of the actual housing market trumps all.
I think we're seeing the result of a number of people who were under the impression that a rate of change will remain constant, that home values would always go up with no down-turns, and they could just sell the property if their neg-am loans every got to be too much for them. People don't look at a house as a long-term investment anymore either, apparantly.
I'm constantly amazed at the utterly stupid financial situations people get themselves into with real estate.