From 2007 to late 2008 most headline news from the mortgage industry involved subprime lending. That has greatly changed today as it is rarely talked about, but should this be the case?
Subprime lending is a lending practice that has quite the roller coaster ride in the media. Prior to 2007, many home owners knew what subprime was, but were not 100% sure how it would affect the economy. There were many analysts on CNBC that claimed that it was actually good for the overall economy as it gave everyone a chance to buy a home and live the American dream. Obviously we now know that it is NOT good for the economy and not everyone should have the opportunity to live the American dream.
From early 2007 until late 2008, the subprime mortgage crisis was front page news on every single financial publication. You could not turn the television on without seeing documentaries and entire newscasts solely on this issue. For a six month period, much of the media felt subprime was the one and only reason that we saw a decline in the stock market and overall economy. We have now realized that this was not the entire issue although a big part of it.
When looking at google trends, the search for subprime has had quite a ride. Prior to February 2007, it was a word that was searched very little until the crisis hit. There were two major spikes in media coverage in 2007; one in February and one in July. Through the entire year, that was the number one topic of mortgage news. We then got another surge of media coverage in October of 2008 but that might have been the grand finale. My question is, are we really out of the water with the subprime mortgage mess or has the media just gotten sick of the topic?
Subprime lending greatly changed the landscape of the American economy and it is likely to continue to change the way people buy homes well into the future. Even though mortgage news outlets have not coverage the topic extensively in the last few months, the problems are not over just quite
