U.S. subprime housing crisis will not peak until 2009

According to Standard and Poor’s, “The U.S. subprime housing crisis will not peak until 2009 and total defaults could reach $150 billion.”

“We think in the United States the housing market is not going to bottom until winter. We think the losses in these sectors won’t really hit their peak until 2009,” according to David Wyss, S&P’s chief economist.

“Housing starts are going to drop further, the unemployment rate is going to tick up further, we are expecting another year of sluggish U.S. economic growth,” Wyss said. “We are not halfway through with this crisis yet.”