For politicians the equation is simple: there are more couples who own, or are buying, the place they live in than there are couples who are trying to become owners. Making houses affordable for the have-nots must not be directly at the expense of the haves. That would be a certain way to lose votes rather than gain them.
What's more, falling house prices cause particularly sharp economic pain for recent buyers, as opposed to the theoretical pain of would-be purchasers frustrated by high prices. Stories about a high proportion of home buyers spending more than 30 per cent of their income servicing their mortgage indicate just how sharp the pain can be - it's one thing to scrape and sacrifice to buy an appreciating asset, but it's a disaster to live in poverty for the sake of something that's falling in value.
It's when housing prices start falling that we see a rise in foreclosures, mortgagee auctions, bankruptcies and personal tragedy.

nothing worse than living in a home that is losing value every year...