Real Estate Woes: The Housing Crisis

With each passing release of housing-related data, the picture becomes bleaker for the estimated 1.8 million homeowners with subprime mortgages whose interest rates have reset this year or are due to reset before the end of next year. Many of these borrowers and their families hold the 22 percent of adjustable rate subprime loans currently delinquent or the 3.84 percent of subprime loans that entered foreclosure in the second quarter of this year. For those still current on their loans, they can look forward to increases in monthly payments averaging 30 percent to 50 percent when their rates reset. There have been a number of proposals offered to help these and other troubled borrowers, but the range of solutions suggested to date still leaves a significant number of families without any solution to their problems. For more of CAP's work on the current housing crisis please visit THE CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS www.AMERICANPROGRESS.org