I think you're right, a lot of people underestimate just how risky the real estate market is. Back in the 90s it was seen as a low-risk endeavor. Pretty much guaranteed money and tons of cheap leverage to max out returns. After all, everyone needs houses and the population just keeps going up faster than houses could be built. Especially with immigration.

However the cheap leverage and massive influx of foreign investment kinda fell off which made prices drop like a rock in 2008. I wouldn't be surprised to see it happen again in late 2020 and 2021 when a bunch of people see balloon payments from deferred mortgages.