A study by researchers at Northwestern and the University of Chicago found that as many as one in four defaults may be strategic.
Strategic defaulters are defined as people who stop paying their mortgages but remain current on all their non-real estate debts.
2004 rate (Q4) = 2.57%
2005 rate = 2.66%
2006 rate = 4.42%
2007 rate = 8.60%
2008 rate = 14.65%
(Data: Experian and Oliver Wyman - Market Intelligence Report)
The number of households owing much more than the current value of their homes (deeply "underwater") is rising. First American CoreLogic estimates that 5.3 million U.S. households have mortgage balances at least 20% higher than their homes' value, and 2.2 million of those households are at least 50% under water.
George Brenkert, professor of business ethics at Georgetown University:
"Borrowers who can pay -- and weren't deceived by the lender about the nature of the loan -- have a moral responsibility to keep paying. It would be disastrous for the economy if Americans concluded they were free to walk away from such commitments."
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment