It is important to understand housing's disproportionate role in terms of buoying employment and industrial production from 2000-06 in order to appreciate how violent the reversal's effect might be on aggregate economic growth. As I wrote back in October 2006: # The real estate industry has been responsible for 40% of the job growth since 2001. # The rise in home prices has provided for 70% of the increase in household net worth since 2001. # The increase in consumer spending and real estate construction spending has contributed to 90% of the growth in GDP since 2001.