His report may have been at the request of the government "legally independent" means they have no control over the content of the report.
Now that my mortgage is paid off, I wouldn't be too worried about a value drop provided it went right across the market so that it didn't affect my future plans. I well remember the last housing price crash, the many families made homeless when their homes were repossessed and the struggles of those who managed to stay in their homes but were literally losing money as they paid their mortgages.
I am not going to do the "twelve of us lived in a shoebox" schtick but when we took out our first mortgage, it was mortgage OR holidays, luxuries, meals out and so on. I well remember one day before payday when it an omelette for dinner. I burned the omelette and we ate it because it was that or nothing. It was the same situation with our friends. We didn't starve but money was tight for a few years. I don't know enough about the finances of young people today to know if they are prepared to do the same thing.