Harvard on Housing
Continue Reading Add comment June 24th, 2008
Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies came out with its annual snapshot of the housing industry this week and it is bleak. The report, the university’s 20th, calls this the worst housing downturn in a generation.
The report points the blame firmly at mortgage lenders. It notes that the number of homeowners shelling out more than half of their income on house payments jumped by 3.8 million to more 15% of all homeowners between 2001 and 2006. Last year the number of foreclosures doubled to 1.3 million as a result
This comes as the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices reports its April numbers. All 20 of the largest U.S. markets showed declines. The average decline was nearly 18%.
“The slump has not yet run its full course,” the Joint Center’s director concludes. Of course, you don’t need a degree from Harvard to figure that out.