"There are two other negatives: One is that in markets where there has been a significant slowdown, housing construction has virtually come to a stop,” says Dr. Walden, a professor of agricultural economics.

“And many people don’t realize that housing construction is a major employer in a lot of metropolitan areas, not only in terms of jobs there on the site but in terms of buying construction materials and things like appliances.

"So that will have a negative impact in those economies where there has been a big housing slowdown," he continues.

“The second adverse impact is that home equity buildup has been slower," says Walden. "... The wealth in the home that has been built up, and people have drawn on to buy things in the last few years -- that’s slowing down. So we actually see in the statistics people borrowing less out of their home equity.

"That’s going to adversely affect consumer spending,” he concludes.