Harvard: Housing slump hasn't run full course

The current US housing slump is "shaping up to be the worst in a generation," according to the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University.

The center today issued its annual "State of the Nation's Housing Report."

The center said in a press release, "While the falloff in housing starts, new home sales, and existing home sales already rivals the worst downturns in the post World War II era, home price declines and mortgage defaults are the worst on records that date back to the 1960s and 1970s."

"The slump in housing markets has not yet run its full course,” Nicolas P. Retsinas, the director of the Joint Center for Housing Studies, said in a statement. “Mortgage rates have barely responded to the aggressive easing of the Federal Reserve, the supply of for-sale vacant units continues to grow, and much tighter underwriting is locking many would-be homebuyers out of the market. With home prices falling in most metropolitan areas, homeowners are tightening their belts, remodeling less, and staying on the sidelines.”

One report finding: "The number of homeowners paying more than half their income on housing rocketed from 6.5 million in 2001 to 8.8 million in 2006."

To view the report, please click here.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)