October 20, 2012
THAT WAS EASY:
America's Housing Market Is Shedding Dead Weight (Alex Klein, Oct 19, 2012, Daily Beast)
the ease with which Americans shed their credit puts paid to the notion that the 2008 crisis was credit driven. It was just a matter of derivative fraud.[A]ccording to new data from JP Morgan Chase, Americans may be shrugging off the foreclosure yoke once and for all.The chart shows that the number of delinquent mortgages is finally down to pre-2008 levels. The number of foreclosed real-estate units has also shrunk dramatically in the last couple of quarters. And the number of foreclosed homes repossessed by lenders (REO) is also down. As that colorful mountain of housing pain levels off, housing faces far fewer headwinds.There are a few reasons for this. First, Americans are generally doing a better job keeping up with all sorts of financial obligations, thanks to the improving jobs market and changing consumer habits. Delinquency rates on credit cards, car loans, and mortgages have fallen to pre-crisis levels. That means fewer foreclosures and repossessions.
Posted by Orrin Judd at October 20, 2012 4:04 PM
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