Rich Default Far More Than the Rest of Us

Whether they're throwing in the towel on a California beach home or ski chalets, wealthy Americans are currently defaulting on mortgage payments at extremely high rates. One in 7 of those who owe more than $1 million on property are seriously delinquent, reports the New York Times. For those who owe less than that, the rate is one in 12. The difference is that wealthy dump homes as they would other investments.“The rich are different: they are more ruthless,” says an analyst.

It may seem odd to picture the rich as the new face of foreclosure, but the wealthy have more in common with the middles class than they they'd like to think. “They made their plans based on the best of all possible scenarios," says one Las Vegas agent. They assumed "that their incomes would continue to grow, that real estate would never drop." It didn't happen that way. (But if you're still somehow in the market for a million-dollar home, click here to read about a tony new development of them...in a surprising place.)