International Investing

Its only Tuesday, but I’m comfortable declaring this to be the chart of the week. From Forbes:

Christopher Cagan of First American Real Estate Solutions calculated what fraction of homeowners who closed mortgages in the first nine months of 2005 were sitting, as of February, on zero or negative equity: 29%. He also calculated that a further decline of 5% in home prices would jack that fraction up to 38%. Aggravating the situation is the fact that paying off principal is now viewed as old-fashioned; a large number of borrowers are paying only interest.