Housing Bust Deals a Cruel Blow to Older Homeowners
Home foreclosures, sub-prime loans, and underwater mortgages have understandably dominated concerns about the collapse of the housing market. Yet plunging home values have also triggered equally devastating consequences for the retirement hopes of millions of older homeowners. Perhaps even more than falling retirement-plan investments, 30 percent to 40 percent drops in housing values are destroying the very foundations of retirement for people who did all the right things and played by the rules. Dean Baker, founder and co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR), spoke to largely closed ears and minds as far back as 2002, when he warned of an imminent housing collapse. He has since turned his attention to the impact of that collapse on older Americans.
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