“The key to house prices is the share of foreclosure or short sales in the total housing market. When that share rises, house prices will fall, because distressed properties sell for significantly less - currently around 25 percent below non-distressed houses.” FallHouseShareKeysPercentSellsPropertyHousingForeclosureHousing MarketHouse Prices Author:Mark Zandi
“Everybody would be better off if they could buy housing for only, let's say, a carrying charge of one-quarter of their income. That used to be the case 50 years ago. Buyers had to save up and make a higher down payment, giving them more equity - perhaps 25 or 30 percent. But today, banks are creating enough credit to bid up housing prices again.” IfsGivingYearsEnoughWould BeTodayUsedCasesHigherCreatingPercentYears AgoCreditIncomeUsed To BeQuartersBetter OffEquityHousingPaymentBuyers Author:Michael Hudson
“If you have to pay about forty to forty-three percent of your income for housing, you also have to pay fifteen percent of your paycheck for the FICA for Social Security wage withholding. You have to pay medical care, you have to pay the banks for your credit card debt, student loans. Then you only have about twenty-five or thirty-five percent, maybe one-third of your salary to buy goods and services. That's all.” IfsCareThreeSocialPayFiveSecurityStudentsPercentThirdsTwentiesCreditDebtMedicalIncomeCardsThirtyFortyGoodsFifteenSocial SecurityHousingLoanSalaryCredit CardTwenty FivePaychecksMedical CareGoods And ServicesWithholdingStudent LoanCredit Card Debt Author:Michael Hudson
“It is no exaggeration to say that rising inequality has driven many of the 99 percent into a financial ditch. It also helped spawn the housing bubble that gave us the financial crisis of 2008, the lingering effects of which have forced many OWS protesters to try to launch their careers in by far the most inhospitable labor market we've seen since the Great Depression. Even those recent graduates who manage to find jobs will suffer a lifelong penalty in reduced wages.” TryingJobsSufferingCareersEffectsPercentLaborCrisisFinancialDrivenManageInequalityRisingGraduatesBubblesPenaltiesWagesHousingLifelongExaggerationGreat DepressionFinancial CrisisLingeringSpawnHousing Bubble Author:Robert H. Frank