Black-headed households are less likely than white-headed ones to own their residences. The latest data from the Census Bureau put the homeownership rate at 75% for whites and 45% for blacks. According to the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency, our state’s racial disparity is roughly similar. These are facts. What they mean, how they came...
Politicians who’ve been paying attention understand that these government policies contributed mightily to the boom that led to the current bust.
Government fiscal, monetary, and regulatory policies should be entirely neutral with regard to household decisions to buy or rent homes.
In an attempt to foster popular support for a mortgage bailout program, a news account fails to ask some key questions of a foreclosure "victim."
Reading the latest economic news recalls the popular box store warning "Watch out for falling prices!" We appear to be entering a period of generally falling prices in our economy, an overall deflation. Falling prices aren't always a good thing, however, and this time, analysts are concerned about negative economy-wide effects. Should the Fed step in?
The Roosevelt administration’s original political constituency for its housing and mortgage initiatives was organized labor, as its more candid leaders acknowledged.
Once the Fed took the post-September 11 "punch bowl" away from those seeking easy credit, a softening of the housing market was bound to follow.
There's been more bad news recently about the housing market. Home foreclosures are up. Thousands of higher-risk homebuyers have found the mortgage that got them in the door is now pushing them out.
Interest rates may be rising, mortgage lending companies and news reports are telling us. A recent ad blitz by a well-known mortgage company clearly suggested that the Federal Reserve would raise mortgage interest rates soon and urged potential loan customers to lock in home loans before that happened. In fact, the Fed doesn't control mortgage interest rates.
