Real estate in southern California is all about booms and busts. They happen with regularity because so many people believe owning property in the region, whether near the ocean in Malibu or further east in the desert, is part and parcel of the American dream.
But, thanks to the collapse of the subprime lending market, that dream has soured. After house values soared in southern California in the early part of the decade, the region now finds itself at the centre of a financial crisis that is rippling throughout the global economy.
