The Foreign Policy blog has some interesting details about rich people losing their homes:
A good example of this is the greater Washington, D.C., area. One might think that subprime loans would be most popular in poorer areas of the District. And they’d be right. According to a study by the nonprofit Urban Institute, high-interests loans were indeed popular in low-income neighborhoods. However, they were much more popular in Fairfax County, which has a median income of $100,318—the highest in the country. Many homeowners there used subprime loans to upgrade to a larger house. In fact, these kinds of loans fueled the McMansion phenomenon.
When more wealthy homeowners start to lose their homes (and as Passport noted a few weeks back, the worst is yet to come), the confidence of U.S. investors will suffer greatly. This, in theory, will further slow global growth, as consumers will be less likely to spend.
More details also at the Journal.