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by ksherlock 1186 days ago
ehh, not really. Watch The Big Short to get an idea of what was going on. Bankers were giving money to anyone with a pulse so they could buy a 3rd investment house. Liar loans, subprime mortgages, option-ARMS, etc. The real estate market last year was nuts but nothing like that.

Yes, car loan delinquencies are up and mortgage delinquencies are trending up but mortgage delinquencies are still at some of the lowest levels (~1%) in the past 15 years.

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About a third of housing sales now go to investors. We really don’t know what their balance sheets look like - but presumably someone is lending them money. Some fraction of those loans will be variable interest rate.

Housing was returning 20% YoY - I wouldn’t be surprised to learn some investors are holding 10% mortgages which they may not be able to carry.

I can't say I understand what will become of things if those investors go belly up, but I can't say I have any sympathy for investors who've made the housing crisis worse.

Let them crash and put the houses back on the market.

Keep in mind that "investor" doesn't necessarily mean big evil corp.

An "investor" is also someone who saved up enough money for a down payment on a house in their neighborhood that they Airbnb and go over and clean and wash dishes to try to supplement their income.