From Overseas Press

Getting older now means more housing distress

(Agencies)
Updated: 2010-06-24 10:57

And more of those people are out of work or carrying more debt. Older workers have higher salaries, and often rack up credit-card debt while unemployed as they try to find a job commensurate with experience.

Median weekly earnings were highest for workers aged 55 to 64, followed by those aged 45 to 54, first-quarter data from the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics show.

But unemployment in those age groups is at levels not seen since the postwar period: At 7.7 percent for the 45- to 54-year-old group, just below a record 8 percent last September, and 7.1 percent for workers 55 and over, a hair below last December's record 7.2 percent. These BLS records date back to 1948.

For the first time, lower income due to unemployment and underemployment was the main motivator for credit counseling last year, Cunningham said.

"Prior to that, the No. 1 reason had always been financial mismanagement," she said.

Last year about one-quarter of the 4 million consumers NCFF counseled sought help for mortgage troubles. More than half of those borrowers were 45 or older.

Retirement plans are interrupted as many struggling older borrowers seek full- or part-time jobs to supplement income.

With many of these borrowers "taking a significant hit in both home value and retirement savings, you're seeing a lot more people eventually dropping out of the middle class," said David Certner, the AARP's legislative policy director.

Home price losses averaging 30 percent from the 2006 highs also decimated equity for many borrowers, shutting down another source of spendable funds and making refinancing impossible.

"There isn't the cash and equity available to be able to do renovations and improvements or other consumer spending," said John Taylor, president and chief executive officer of the National Community Reinvestment Coalition in Washington. "It's going to contribute to a negative pull on our economy."

Making foreclosure prevention mandatory for lenders is critical to stabilize housing prices, aid more senior homeowners and build future economic growth, he contends.

Craig Thomas, senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group in Pittsburgh, said that while the bleeding stopped in some housing markets, others with high concentrations of older homeowners, such as Florida or the Upper Midwest, still suffer.