In
countries where non-recourse loans allow borrowers to walk away from a
mortgage when its value exceeds that of their home, the housing bust may
lead to massive defaults and banking crises. In countries (for example,
Sweden) where recourse loans allow seizure of household income to
enforce payment of mortgage obligations, private consumption may plummet
as debt payments (and eventually rising interest rates) crowd out
discretionary spending. Either way, the result would be the same:
recession and stagnation.
What we are witnessing in many
countries looks like a slow-motion replay of the last housing-market
train wreck. And, like last time, the bigger the bubbles become, the
nastier the collision with reality will be.
Nouriel Roubini is an American professor of Economics at New York University`s Stern School of Business and chairman of RGE Roubini Global Economics
