A possible explanation for the American and Spanish property bubbles

From an interesting post at The Money Illusion, we find this novel explanation for the housing bubble, which manages to answer that pesky rejoinder, "But why did Spain have a real estate bubble, too?" (Then again, I don't think immigration to Iceland has been especially strong lately...)

The housing bubble in 2004-2006 was partly driven by rapid immigration from Latin America (as was the bubble in Spain itself!), and also by a perception (which turned out false) that coastal zoning constraints were spreading into interior markets. Many Hispanic immigrants were snapping up older ranch houses, allowing native born Americans to move on to bigger McMansions. The immigration crackdown in 2007 dramatically slowed this immigration (as did the worsening economy.) Population growth estimates going several years forward fell sharply, hurting housing speculators. Ground zero of the sub-prime bust is in working class areas of the Southwest and Florida. Any guess as to who bought homes in those areas?