One out of five families owes more on credit cards, medical bills, student loans and other unsecured debt than they have in savings, according to a new University of Michigan report. And the number of families surveyed at the end of 2011 that have no savings at all increased to 23.4%, compared with 18.5% in 2009.
“The people who were down and out, without much money, in the recession have ended up staying there or even worse,” says Frank Stafford, professor of economics at University of Michigan Institute for Social Research and co-author of the report.
And the mortgage crisis is not over.
When more of the Baby Boomers reach retirement age, they will probably seek to sell their McMansions and downsize (whilst continuing to hold their jobs, thus keeping unemployment of new college grads high). This will put further pressure on the housing market, by adding to the glut of homes for sale. Home prices will drop further, but with tighter mortgage lending requirements, there will be even fewer buyers.