Apparently even the wealthy are suffering from the ongoing housing crisis. According to reports, the number of well-off homeowners who are unable to pay their mortgages and are walking away from their loans has been growing steadily in recent months.

Wells Fargo Private Bank chief executive Jay Welker said that the rich are “not immune” to the after-effects of the burst of the housing bubble in 2008. “The affluent are not immune to the recession. It just took a while to manifest itself,” he stressed as data showed that the country’s millionaires have yet to fully recover some $11-trillion worth of profit losses, which were brought about the by the crisis.

Meanwhile, real estate and mortgage tracking firm First American CoreLogic revealed that the percentage of delinquent loans worth $1 million and above jumped 13.3% in February this year, exceeding the overall delinquency rate since April 2008. Some 205 foreclosure filing for mortgages of $5 million and above were also recorded last month. According to RealtyTrac, the 205 foreclosures are worth a total of $813 million. Analysts warned that the trend doesn’t bode well for private banking institutions, which help manage the rich’s assets.

“A lot of the wealthy are less wealthy. The stock market hasn’t fully recovered, taxes are on the way up, and real estate isn’t worth what it once was. That shakes people,” former Claymore Securities president Christian Magoon said.

If the rich are also reeling from the housing crisis, what do you think will happen to the country’s economic recovery? Share to us your thoughts by joining our discussions. Log in or leave your email address below.