Would would a new week be without more stories about the credit crunch and implosion of the sub-prime market? The New York Times leads off this morning with a lot of detail about Far Rockaway, where a lot of newly-built two- and three-family homes are sitting surrounded by plywood with no buyers. The new popularity of empty lots and boarded up new buildings is one of "the unacknowledged effects of the larger credit and foreclosure crisis in minority neighborhoods, where subprime and predatory loans were common." Prime areas for the development "ghost towns" are southeastern Queens, central Brooklyn and the northeast Bronx. A CUNY professor says that “Whole neighborhoods are wiped out, crime increases, the neighborhood’s reputation goes down, quality of life is undermined, and people can’t sell their houses." And, it's only Monday morning.
· Risky Loans Help Build Ghost Towns of New Homes [NYT]
· As Mortgage Rates Rise, More Deals Sink [Brownstoner]
· Fed's Rate Cut May Give Little Relief to Homeowners [Bloomberg via TRD]
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