Friday, February 17, 2006

The Decline of the Great American Home ATM

The 'great' American home ATM is becoming less well stocked and is becoming more costly to operate . How will this effect consumer spending which accounts for 70% of the US economy?

6 comments:

  1. A few things..

    Americans are addicted to debt. If someone thinks nothing of double digit rates on credit cards, even at 8% a home equity is "cheap". It's going to take much more than increasing rates to shut down the Housing ATM.

    Include the HELOC for the same terms as well.. The HELOC has seen a significant change in rates over the same time period. I believe it's just as representative of the housing ATM, maybe even more so.

    It might help to increase the horizon as well.. Rates on these types of loans have been steadily increasing since 2004. Unfortunately, the bankrate data for these mortgages only goes back to mid-2004. It would have been nice to graph the data back to at least 2000.

    grim

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  2. The Re-Fi Craze is reaching a downturn. This will have tremendous implications for the US economy. No more ATM money for the kitchen remodeling, exotic vacations, or the Mercedes.

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  3. David, you might want to check out the article in the NY Times today "Farewell, Condo Cash Outs". It specifically covers a couple buildings, including Clarendon 1021. I bet you've already got it though.

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  4. Americans have not yet been held accountable for their massive debt. WHen they are, when the creditors say hey, pay me now, then watch out.

    Marinite
    Marin Real Estate Bubble

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  5. arioch,

    Very funny. :-)

    anon,
    I saw the article. Thanks for posting.

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