Speaking of pension funds, In Australia a lot of people over the past 20 years have pooled money into the housing market in-place of their 'super' (Retirement funds) by buying up large and expensive properties extending themselves, with the idea to sell the house at retirement after the kids leave home.

People have watched there house investments grow into a huge amount of cash through the housing bubble here, and we are already seeing pullbacks in real estate, but if/when this economy crashes, there are going to be a lot of people left with a 'huge over expensive house' to sell with not much in there retirement fund.