New Task Force

The Governor's Task Force on Mortgage Lending is the latest of the many such forces. The charge is to evaluate the potential impact of the national subprime lending crisis.
Our guess as to that impact is: Some, but not a whole lot. Nationally, the problem is one of moving out the risk horizon on morgage lending and then trouble developing at the risk boundary. Moving out the risk horizon meant figuring out ways for lower income and/or funky credit history people to get mortgages. Statewide, foreclosures declined 30 percent during the first half of 2007, as compared to a 58 percent increase nationwide, according to RealtyTrac, a research firm. In metro Albuquerque, sales have declined, but prices continue to increase. Construction employment has dropped a little in Albuquerque over the past year and has held steady statewide.
The national delinquency and foreclosure rates are being driven by events in four states—California, Florida, Nevada and Arizona, reports the Mortgage Bankers Association. These four have more than one-third of the nation’s subprime adjustable rate mortgages, more than one-third of the foreclosure starts on subprime ARMs, and are responsible for most of the nationwide increase in foreclosure actions. The subprime market brought 12 million households to home ownership, said the late Edward Gramlich, a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. A large majority of these households would not have qualified for mortgages 15 years ago.
Task Force chairs are Michael Loftin of Homewise and Tomasita Duran of the Ohkay Owingeh Housing Authority.