Future Foreclosures?
1 in 4 Borrowers Under Water
–Headline, The Wall Street Journal (11/24/09)
In truth, this isn’t just a headline in today’s Journal; it’s THE headline.
As the accompanying story spells out, even the startling, 1-in-4 statistic understates things: in Nevada, Arizona, and Florida, the corresponding percentages are 65%, 48%, and 45%, respectively.
As I just posted last week (“Watching Strategic Defaults“), the biggest wild card in so-called experts’ 2010 housing predictions is what happens when homeowners stop paying their mortgages not because they can’t, but because they won’t.
This is an unfolding story with huge implications for the entire housing market . .
