American Banker – October 8, 2009 Thursday
BYLINE: Harry Terris
If Arthur C. Nelson is right, the homeownership rate is headed for a seismic shift that will reduce it to levels not seen in a generation. That may be just as well in his view – and those of other experts who are likely to help shape the debate over housing policy. For Nelson, the director of the Metropolitan Research Center at the University of Utah, the devastation of foreclosures and demographic changes mean it is time to rethink the primacy of homeownership in housing policy. “We’ve pushed people into owning homes, and now we find out that some millions of them shouldn’t have purchased homes,” he said. “They’re going to be worse off for the next five to 10 years because their credit records are now blemished beyond repair.”
