From USA TODAY:
Home prices across the nation are right back where they were at the beginning of 2003. All that was gained is largely now lost, and the effect on home ownership could continue for decades.
…All this could push home ownership down to levels not seen at least since before the Census began tracking this data in 1963. Home ownership soared to 70% in 2005, but it could fall to 62% by 2015, according to the number crunchers at John Burns Real Estate Consulting. They suggest that the effect of foreclosures drops home ownership 5.6%, and cyclical trends, like poor consumer confidence, tightening mortgage credit and the weak economy drop it 3%. Positive demographic trends would only offset that by 0.7%….
As home prices refuse to stabilize and in fact continue to fall, negative equity will only increase. The vast majority of the 10-plus million people who are underwater are still paying their mortgages, but they are deeply underwater, 30% and higher. That will take a long time to correct, and will stagnate much of the market for years to come, as these owners are unable to sell…
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