Where Are Mortgages Headed Now?

With fast rising house values, low interest rates for some years and consumer debt at all time highs again, lets look at where mortgages sit now and in the near future.

I came across an article coverimg this topic in the News Journal (Delaware Online) which you can read further here:

The last time interest-only mortgages were common was in the 1920s. Rather than paying down their debt, homeowners invested in the stock market. It crashed in 1929. Subsequently, real estate prices collapsed during the Great Depression and lenders stopped making interest-only loans for nearly seven decades.

Could it happen again? If history has taught us one thing, it is to learn from our mistakes. Over the last decade we have been stubbornly creating the right mix to invite economic disaster. From the 1999 repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act -- enacted in 1933 to ensure a separation of banking from insurance, commerce and securities -- to the mainstreaming of exotic mortgages.

delawareonline ¦ The News Journal ¦ The fight isn't just to buy a home

This situation is similar to other countries as well, like Australia.

technorati tags:mortgages, fixed+interest, housing, real+estate