Fixed-mortgage interest rates creeping up
Philadelphia Inquirer
By Alan J. Heavens
...But as a study released Wednesday by the Mortgage Bankers Association reports, the recession so far has served to reduce the pool of buyers needed to push the market toward growth.
Despite a population increase of 3.4 million from 2005 to 2008, 1.2 million households were lost, which has helped contribute to the current excess of single-family houses and apartments, said Gary Painter, an associate professor at the University of Southern California, who conducted the study.
"Given the strong tie between unemployment rates and household formation, household formation will likely return to normal levels by 2012 as unemployment rates decline over the next two years," Painter said.
"The housing and mortgage industries will feel the impact of this reduction in the number of households for years to come."...