Bloomberg reports an interview with Kenneth Heebner, co-founder of Capital Growth Management, the top-performing real-estate fund. Commenting on the potential effects of the subprime crisis Heebner inferred that U.S. home prices could fall as much as 20% due to rising defaults on high-risk financing. "It will be the biggest housing-price decline since the Great Depression," he is quoted as saying.
Nor will hedge funds be immune from the effects of subprime-loan defaults. Although to a lesser extent, the same goes for mutual funds that invested in Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) and other instruments secured by this type of loan. However investment banks and the brokers who are in the business of packaging and marketing these products will avoid being hurt, having passed on the bulk of the risk to investors. "They know the product is toxic; they're not going to get caught," Heebner said.
These comments by someone who has a consistently successful track record in calling the market should give pause for thought. A 20% drop in prices would undoubtedly affect many more people than the lower rungs of the subprime borrowers. Those with half-million dollar homes who have over-reached in equity backed borrowing could well find themselves walking away from homes with $100,000 of debt following them. I have witnessed just such situations in the Ontario market in the 80's. This is before the knock-on effects in the rest of the economy are even considered.
Many people have been paying attention to the market and conversations about selling are growing in frequency. This is a difficult matter to decide. Those who leave such a decision to the end in the hope of a recovery can end up being disastrously disappointed. On the other hand, at least one commentator not known for optimism has offered the opinion that a slump in prices that he sees as inevitable in mid-year could be followed by an upsurge in the fall when buyers from Asia will be attracted by the property bargains to be had in the US. But the same writer has been issuing a 'sell now' message for at least a year.
No help will come on this question from anyone who has a vested interest in shoring up the market. This includes politicians and mainstream financial 'gurus'. And it is well to bear in mind that your Financial Planning Associate at the local bank is more often than not speaking on the basis of the minimal requirements for offering such advice that holds in most jurisdictions.
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