I kind of get his point though: what if all this is pushed to the breaking point, and things snap suddenly?

First of all, I just don't think that will happen. Regulations aren't changing quickly, houses aren't that fast to build, and if prices start to go down, building is going to slow down too.

Second of all, if "the dam breaks", it's only because of years and years of doing the wrong thing, so yeah, it still sucks for whoever gets caught out, but the longer you put off fixing things, the worse it's going to be.