The people buying the homes thought they were the beneficiaries of this largesse, but they weren't. The ones who benefitted were: (1) the banks, and (2) the sellers of the homes.
The sellers of the homes only benefited until the bubble burst. Then they were left holding inflated property worth 1/2 to 1/3 of what they had paid for it.
If there had been some way to bet on the short market, you could have made a fortune. A blind man could see that the market was grossly inflated, just like the fake stock market during the so-called internet bubble.