Subprime crisis hits "McMansions"

(00:57) Rough Cut

Apr. 3 - The subprime mortgage crisis has hit especially hard here in Loudoun County, where upscale developments have supplanted horse farms over the past fifteen years.

About an hour's drive from Washington, Loudoun is one of the nation's most affluent counties with a median household income of $98,000, more than double the national figure. The county has also ranked as one of the nation's fastest growing in recent years as developers built thousands of super-sized, amenity-laden houses -- nicknamed "McMansions" -- to keep pace with the booming high-tech economy. Between 1990 and 2005, the population tripled to 272,000. Many of those moving here relied on risky, high-interest loans to buy the house of their dreams. High-interest loans accounted for 16 percent of the total during the height of the mortgage boom in 2005, less than other outer-ring suburban counties in the region but more than neighboring counties closer to Washington.

http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=79596