When a single sector grows large enough to constitute a meaningful share of national output, it stops being a component of the economy and becomes a condition of it. The correction, when it arrives, is no longer sectoral — it is systemic.
The Structural Logic of Construction Dependency
Construction is unusual among economic sectors in its capacity to expand rapidly during asset price booms while simultaneously embedding deep structural vulnerabilities. Unlike manufacturing or services, residential construction activity is almost entirely predicated on forward-looking price expectations. Developers build because they expect prices to remain elevated or to rise further. Lenders finance because collateral values appear sound. Workers migrate toward the sector because wages are competitive. Each of these decisions is individually rational and collectively self-reinforcing — until the price signal reverses.