[PEN-L:33248] RE: Re: How Much Housing Credit Is Too Much?

["Devine, James" <jdevine@xxxxxxx>]

Title: RE: [PEN-L:33247] Re: How Much Housing Credit Is Too Much?

> The one factoid that struck me was:
>
> Since early 2001, outstanding residential mortgage debt has
> ballooned from
> an amount equal to 49.0 percent of GDP to a level ($6.2
> trillion) equaling
> 59.0 percent of GDP.

but how much have mortgage payments risen as a percentage of personal disposable income? after all, interest rates have fallen and refinancing is the big trend these days.

Still, the US economy is in deep yoghurt if a popping of the housing bubble implies that house prices fall drastically relative to mortgage debt (producing negative home equity for some) and/or deflation means that incomes fall relative to mortgage and other interest payments.

Jim