Near Perfect Storm in the Housing/Mortgage Industry

The following excerpts from an article at Yahoo are from a speech given by a member of senior management at Washington Mutual (WAMU). Finally, the lending industry is stating it the way it is.

Washington Mutual Inc said on Monday that most U.S. housing markets are weakening, creating a "near perfect storm" that may force the largest U.S. savings and loan to set aside more money for bad loans.

Chief Executive Kerry Killinger . . . . speaking at a Lehman Brothers Inc. financial services conference, said the housing market faces rising delinquencies and foreclosures, higher borrowing costs, tighter underwriting standards and tough capital markets, "creating what we call a near-perfect storm for housing.

"Most housing markets appear to be weakening, to us," Killinger said. "We would not be surprised to see declines in housing prices in many regions of the country ... for the next few quarters." He said corrections in the housing and credit markets will last longer than the thrift expected.