By Lynn Effinger | HousingWire
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are posted for discussion purposes only.)
Adding to the uncertainty surrounding the American economy in general and the housing sector in particular, is the reporting by Jackie Stewart in Mortgage Servicing News recently, “Bad Loans Remain Well Above Pre-crisis Levels.” In her article, Stewart notes that the banking industry continues to sit on a mountain of problematic loans seven years after the onset of the financial crisis.
Further, and I quote, “Credit quality, to be sure, is substantially better than it was during the peak of the crisis. But the amount of nonperforming assets on bank’s books is more than triple the levels reported in 2006.”
Does this sound like the housing sector is or has been in a real recovery? Yes, I know, rhetorical, indeed.
Comment by Jim Belfiore, real estate consultant:
“The Arizona housing market is on solid ground with foreclosure levels near normal and most market areas and newly defaulting home loans falling below ‘normal’ healthy years. With home prices rising, now at mid-2005 to early 2006 levels, the risk of the mortgage default level rising in the next 24 months is minimal and unlikely.”
