Dec. 14 (Bloomberg) — For U.S. homeowners, builders, bankers and realtors, the crash of 2007 will only get worse in 2008.
Everyone from mortgage-finance company Fannie Mae to Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. expects declines next year. Existing home sales will drop 12 percent and existing home prices will fall 4.5 percent, Washington-based Fannie Mae says. Lehman analysts estimate almost 1 million mortgage loans will default in 2008, up from about 300,000 this year.