Senior Citizens are Age Group Least Likely to Find
it Acceptable to 'Walk' a Mortgage
Pew Research finds a third of public finds it
sometimes OK to stop making payments
Sept.
15, 2010 - A majority of Americans say it is "unacceptable" for
homeowners to stop making their mortgage payments and abandon their
homes, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Senior citizens are
the age group least likely to find walking away is acceptable.
More than a third (36%) or all adults surveyed by
Pew say the practice of "walking away" from a home mortgage is
acceptable, at least under certain circumstances. Only about 1 out of 10
(11%) of senior citizens agree.
Among
all ages, nearly six-in-ten (59%) believe it is wrong for homeowners to
deliberately stop paying their mortgages and surrender their homes to
the mortgage lender, according to the survey of 2,967 adults conducted
May 11-31.
But two-in-ten (19%) say it's acceptable and an
additional 17% volunteer that it depends on the circumstances.
The relationship between age and attitudes toward
walking away from a mortgage is complex, according to Rick Morin, Senior
Editor, Pew Research Center, who wrote the analysis.
On the one hand, older adults are significantly
less likely than young people accept walking away (13% for those 65 and
older, compared with 21% of adults younger than 65).
But that doesn't mean older Americans categorically
reject the practice while younger people who are more likely to tolerate
it.
According
to the survey, about one-in-five mortgage-holders (21%) are
currently "under water." Black homeowners are more likely than
whites to be in this circumstance (35% vs. 18%); lower-income
homeowners are more likely than upper-income homeowners to face
this problem (33% for those with family incomes of less than
$30,000 vs. 15% for those earning $75,000 or more). Middle-aged
homeowners are more likely than either younger or older
homeowners to be in this situation.
In fact, it is those younger than 30 who are the
most likely to say walking away is unacceptable: 68% say this, compared
with 57% of adults 65 or older.
Instead, older adults are more measured in their
views. They are more likely than younger adults to volunteer that it
depends on the circumstances (22% of those 65 and older vs. 9% of those
18 to 29 years old).
When taken together, slightly more than a third of
older adults (35%) and nearly as many younger people (30%) believe it
okay to walk away from a mortgage or say it is acceptable under certain
circumstances. (The survey did not probe to find out under what specific
circumstances people thought walking away was acceptable.)
Those who have had financial problems during the
recession are more likely than others to say that walking away from a
mortgage is acceptable.
Nearly one-in-four adults (24%) who say their
families are just able to pay their monthly bills or can't meet expenses
say it's okay to stop paying a mortgage, compared with 14% of those who
say they "live comfortably."
But homeowners who say their homes are worth less
than what they owe are not more tolerant of the practice than those who
would break even or make money on a sale (18% vs.17%).
While some demographic groups are more likely than
others to say it's okay to walk away - among them, Hispanics, adults
younger than age 65 and those living in the West - these differences are
mostly modest.
