Bubbles usually build slowly over years, then unwind faster and more brutally
The dot-com bubble inflated over roughly five years before peaking in March 2000, then the NASDAQ fell about 78 percent over the next two and a half years. The mid-2000s housing bubble grew for years before peaking in 2006, then prices slid for roughly six years into 2012. The asymmetry is striking: optimism builds gradually, but the descent is steeper and more punishing, with the sharpest drops often concentrated early in the fall.
