Even the high-end housing market is feeling Wall Street's woes. (mathieukor/iStockphoto)
There's been much in the news about how the credit and housing messes are hitting the average consumer, who can't sell his home or get a mortgage for a new one, or is losing his house to foreclosure.
Stories published Friday, however, on CNNMoney.com and WSJ.com (the Wall Street Journal's website), show that it's not just the average Joe who's getting pounded in today's economy, the rich are starting to feel the pinch, too.
CNNMoney.com says that today, even "well-qualified home buyers" are getting turned down for mortgages as banks tighten lending standards. For instance, the website reports an instance where an individual who intended to put $1.2 million down on a house selling for $2.2 million was turned down for a loan because of a late mortgage payment last year -- that one overdue payment caused his credit score to dip to 679, so the lender denied his new home loan, the website says.
Lenders now want all qualifications to be met before granting a loan -- e.g., income, assets and credit score, and are less likely to make exceptions, the website says.
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal notes that the woes on Wall Street are hitting buyers of high-end homes, especially in the $2 million to $10 million range -- a "market often sought by Wall Street workers," the Journal says.
The market for high-end trophy homes at the highest end of the luxury spectrum are little more immune to the current economic crisis, the Journal adds. But even buyers in the market for $20 million homes are "looking for deals," one Santa Barbara, Calif.-based real estate professional is quoted in the story.
The jolt is being felt from New York to San Francisco, with one real estate broker telling the Wall Street Journal that within the past week or so, there have been 200 price cuts on homes listed for less than $10 million on Manhattan's Upper East and Upper West sides.—Lauren Baier Kim