Realtors & Mortgage Brokers: Toughest Year for Housing Markets Since 2010 Ahead - Mandelman Matters

``To call what we've been through these last 28 months or so a "recovery," is almost like referring to a patient in the hospital "recovering," because his doctor just gave him a shot of morphine. Oh, he's feeling better, there's no question about that, but "recovering?" No. In fact, it's just as likely that he's dying.... First of all, the demand hasn't gone anywhere recently... it left the building in 2008 and it hasn't returned, nor will it until we fix what was so badly broken. The percentage of underwater mortgages is still off the charts. Different groups like to spin this situation to varying degree, but everyone pegs the percentage between 25 and 50 percent... household formation is running just under 35 percent of what it's been anytime in recent history.  I mean, I knew intuitively that it was low, but I had no idea it was that low.''