Top 30 Mark Zandi Quotes

Buying a home wouldn’t make much sense if house prices were likely to decline further; no one wants to catch a falling knife.

Yes. I don’t think it would be appropriate at this point to raise taxes on anyone, certainly not in 2011.

We’re getting job creation in healthcare and educational services. We’ve been getting that all along. It’s demographically driven, it’s funded by the government, and that’s held up.

Defaulting on the nation‘s debt would be cataclysmic. The U.S. Treasury‘s Aaa rating is the one constant in the world‘s financial system. When times are bad anywhere on the planet, global investors flock to Treasury bonds because they know they will get their money back.

The clearest way to cut some of this fiscal drag would be to extend the current payroll tax holiday and increase it – as proposed by President Barack Obama. This would cut the fiscal drag by almost half.

Our biggest challenge is to eliminate the popular perception that economists don’t have anything useful to say.

Potential home buyers have a two-step decision process. First, they determine whether they can afford to make a purchase – does their income safely cover their mortgage payment? Then they determine whether owning is a better financial choice than renting – are the costs of owning a home lower than the cost of renting it?

I only have two things in my life, my family and work. If there’s any time left over, then I play sports.

A home is still the biggest asset that most Americans own.

The Obama administration deserves credit for quickly ending the housing free fall. In particular, Obama empowered the Federal Housing Administration to ensure that households could find mortgages at low interest rates even during the worst phase of the financial panic.

It is time to move on. House prices won‘t rise and the economy won’t fully engage until more distressed properties are resolved and put back into ordinary use.

In a forbearance, the homeowner pays interest and principal on a smaller mortgage, at least for a time, but still owes the full amount. The lower monthly payment helps with affordability, giving stressed homeowners a break.

A housing renaissance has begun. This may be hard to believe after the dizzying, six-year-long crash in home sales, construction and house prices. But housing turned the corner last year, and it will take off in 2013.

Now, I do think when we move into 2012 and ’13 when, presumably, the economy is on firmer ground, I would allow the tax rates for upper-income individuals to revert back to where they were before the cuts in the 1990s. I think at that point it makes perfect sense.

Our economy isn’t going to recover until the housing market finds its footing.

The Tea Party was born out of the disgust many Americans felt early in the financial crisis upon learning that the federal government was even contemplating reducing the principal on some troubled mortgages.

I’m a registered Democrat.

The Bush tax cuts should be extended permanently for families with annual incomes of less than $250,000 and should be phased out slowly for those making more than that. Raising taxes on anyone now, when the economic recovery is so fragile, would be a mistake.

My policy is I will help any policymaker who asks, whether they be a Republican or a Democrat.

Lenders look at potential borrowers from many angles before extending credit: How much of its income will a household need to put into debt repayment? How large is the down payment? Does the borrower have a job with a stable income? What is the borrower’s credit score?

Too-easy credit and millions of bad loans made during the U.S. housing bubble paved the way for the financial calamity and Great Recession that followed. Today, by contrast, credit is too tight. Mortgage loans are particularly hard to get, creating a problem for the housing market and the broader economy.

There are different flavors of recession. You can get into some pretty dark scenarios pretty quickly.

The extension and expansion of the payroll tax holidays for workers would be number one on my list and key to avoiding recession.

The FHA’s success provides strong evidence that government can and should play a role in the nation’s mortgage finance system. It also demonstrates that although government intervention in the economy during the Great Recession was messy, things would have been a lot messier without it.

Housing was ground zero for the Great Recession. Between early 2006 and Obama’s inauguration in 2009, average house prices fell by a third across the country. In certain areas, including cities as diverse as Akron, Orlando and Las Vegas, house prices fell by more than half.

Distressed properties are often vacant and in disrepair, and thus sold at significant discounts. As the share of distressed sales grows, home prices fall.

In a normal time, I don’t think economic policy makes a large difference one way or another. But in times of crisis it makes all the difference in the world.

Past experience with fiscal austerity at home and overseas strongly suggests that it is best for the economy’s long-run performance to restrain government spending rather than raise taxes.

The most important point is, in a time of crisis, there is no way out but for the government to be bold and aggressive.

The discussion in Washington has changed dramatically. I mean, it’s no longer a question of should we address entitlements – it’s no longer a question of do we need to reduce spending in the future.