Foreclosure Crisis - Causes Other than Sub-Prime Loans?

Yes, one or two.

Why does it cost so much money to buy a house in the first place? Supply and demand, and supply in many locations is artificially restricted by zoning and land use regulations.

The fewer places you can build a house in a given area, the more you will have to pay for that house, and the greater the amount of the mortgage you will need.

Several blogs provide evidence in support of this, that more than the sub-prime crisis contributes to the current credit breakdown and housing market free fall. More reasons NOT to bail out the insurance, bond and other financial institutions that should have known better, and had actual underwriting standards before creating all those sub-prime mortgages.

Local de-regulation of restrictive zoning and land use regulations would lead to more affordable housing, at lower, reasonable values, able to be financed by reasonable, lower, mortgages.