This PhysOrg.com article titled Study: Mortgage Losses On Owner-Occupied Homes Lower Than Assumed gives some interesting insights into how much home mortgages are contributing to the financial meltdown.
Here are some highlights:
- losses on first mortgages for owner-occupied homes may range as high as $180 billion
- the biggest losses in the mortgage crisis are not for owner-occupied homes, but for commercial real estate loans, and loans for houses bought as investments or built on speculation
- The Americans who have fared the worst in relative terms economically are the wealthy. Findings showed that respondents who were in the top 5 percent in net worth saw an 8.6 percent decline in net worth over the past two years.
