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Arrears and foreclosures
拖欠期款與喪失抵押品贖回權
Staving off the repo man
阻止回購者
When the global housing boom turned to bust, mortgage arrears spiked. In America, the proportion of troubled loans rose from 0.2% before the financial crisis to a peak of 11% in 2012. In Ireland 18% of all mortgages are now in arrears; by value, they account for 23% of the market.
當全球房地產業由繁榮變得蕭條，按揭貸款拖欠就上升了。2012年，美國不良貸款的比例從金融危機前的0.2%上升至11%的歷史新高。目前，愛爾蘭18%的抵押貸款處于拖欠狀態。據估測，拖欠金額占了市場份額的23%。
This crisis is partly self-inflicted. In Greece and Ireland, where foreclosure is very difficult, arrears have piled up. Greece has banned almost all repossessions since 2008. That means the total cost to local banks of the property crash is still worryingly uncertain. A recent paper from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta found that slowing foreclosure in America lowered, rather than supported, property prices during the crisis. Banks may need to be cruel to borrowers to be kind to the wider economy.
這場危機部分是由自己造成的。在希臘和愛爾蘭，欠款者不易喪失抵押品贖回權，他們的欠款累積成堆。自2008年起，希臘就廢除了絕大多數沒收抵押物的條例。這就意味著對于本地銀行，房地產崩盤的損失總額仍然是不確定的，這令其憂心忡忡。亞特蘭大聯邦儲蓄銀行最近發布一篇文章稱：在經濟危機期間，美國國內喪失抵押品贖回權的速度放緩，但這并沒有維持住房地產價格，反而拉低了房價。銀行可能需要嚴待借貸者，而善待更加廣泛的經濟。
