US - Subprime

[millionairemind]

Lena,

Not averaging down?? It was cheap then, now even cheaper lah.. more value for money!!!

mm

[HengHeng]

if it is a mistake averaging is dumb.

[LenaHuat]

Lena,

Not averaging down?? It was cheap then, now even cheaper lah.. more value for money!!!

mm

Hi MM
Ha, ha.........U're pulling my leg??
Kind Rdgs.

[winston]

US House approves mammoth housing bill

WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a wide-ranging housing rescue plan aimed at helping thousands of homeowners avoid foreclosure and supporting mortgage finance giants that have faltered in a turbulent housing market.

The House passed the bill by 272 votes to 152.

The legislation will now be submitted to the Senate and President George W. Bush for his signature.

The plan, which offers aid to homeowners facing foreclosure and seeks to restore confidence in mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, cleared a major hurdle on Wednesday when the White House dropped its threat to veto the plan, despite some reservations.

The bill provides some 3.9 billion dollars to help local governments buy and rehabilitate foreclosed homes.

It also permanently boosts the dollar limit for mortgages that can be repurchased by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and expands the federal mortgage insurance programme, moves that could add liquidity to the housing market.

Significantly, the bill reforms Fannie and Freddie's oversight and would provide for new credit and direct federal investment in the government-sponsored enterprises, which have a congressional charter but are owned by shareholders. - AFP/de

[LenaHuat]

On the quiet (meaning not reported by the media), some depositors are withdrawing their $$ to below the US$100,000 protection limit provided by the FDIC. Can expect this to extend the credit squeeze in many banks.

[millionairemind]

Lena - I think that is a smart move on their part... split into several different banks... to protect yourself.

More than 40pc of UK house sales are collapsing
By Jon Swaine
Last Updated: 1:35am BST 25/07/2008

Four in ten house sales are collapsing in some areas as buyers back out or fail to get a mortgage, the Bank of England has disclosed.

The new figure is yet another sign of the pain being endured by the housing market as the effects of the credit crunch work their way through.

In the monthly Agents' Summary of Business Conditions report, the Bank said: "In the market for established homes, more transactions were falling through, with some estate agents reporting a cancellation rate of up to 40 per cent recently. That was partly due to the unwillingness of many sellers to accept a lower offer."

It added that large numbers of buyers were also having to retreat from deals after having mortgage offers withdrawn by lenders.

Other would-be buyers simply pulled out through fear that house prices could plunge even further than they have done recently, with some analysts predicting a fall of up to 35 per cent in the next two years. Property prices are falling at a rate not seen since the early 1950s, according to the Bank.

The Bank's report said that the problems caused by mortgages being withdrawn and concerns over future price drops were being exacerbated by the disruption throughout the housing market chain - buyers having to cancel a deal because the buyers of their own home have had to back out, for example.

Meanwhile mortgages are less available than at any time since New Labour came to power, new figures from the British Bankers' Association show. They disclosed that the number of applicants now being approved for a mortgage has collapsed, with just 21,118 buyers given a loan last month - a fall of 23pc from May.

However not everyone is suffering. The problems in the buying market have made renting more attractive, according to the Estate agent Your Move. It said that demand for rented accommodation had soared by 38pc in just a year.

David Newnes, the Managing director of Your Move, said: "The credit crunch has buried any chances most first-time buyers might have had of getting on the property ladder. But for landlords this is a cloud with a gold-plated lining."

[millionairemind]

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/ ... 1920080725

Foreclosures rise 14 pct in Q2: RealtyTrac
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Home foreclosure filings rose 14 percent in the second quarter, the eighth consecutive quarterly climb, and more than doubled from the same period a year-earlier, real estate data firm RealtyTrac said on Friday.
Home foreclosure filings during the second quarter were reported on 739,714 U.S. properties, up 121 percent from a year earlier, RealtyTrac, an online market of foreclosure properties, said in a report.

The figure is a total of default notices, auction sale notices and bank repossessions between April and June.

"Although much of the fallout from foreclosures is being driven by rampant activity in a few states, such as Nevada, California, Florida, Ohio, Arizona and Michigan, most areas of the country are seeing at least some increase in foreclosure activity," James J. Saccacio, chief executive officer of RealtyTrac, said in a statement.

Indeed, 48 of 50 states and 95 out of the nation's 100 largest metro areas experienced year-over-year increases in foreclosure activity in the second quarter, he said.

The surge in foreclosures indicates an increasing number of homeowners are struggling to make mortgage payments amid the worst U.S. housing market downturn since the Great Depression.

RealtyTrac, based in Irvine, California, said the national foreclosure rate in the second quarter was one foreclosure filing for every 171 U.S. households.

Properties that have been foreclosed on or repurchased by a bank accounted for 30 percent of total foreclosure activity in the quarter, up from 24 percent in the first quarter, Saccacio said.

"This shift in the distribution of activity indicates that there is a progression toward purging the problem loans out of the system -- at which point the housing market can regain some sense of normalcy. Of course, if another surge in defaults occurs, which could well happen later this year, it would refill the foreclosure pipeline and prolong the recovery," he said
Nevada had the highest foreclosure rate in the country, with one foreclosure filing for every 43 households, followed by California and Arizona.

All three states had been among the hottest U.S. housing markets during the boom years from 2000 to 2005.

Default rates and foreclosures have jumped as the housing market deteriorated. As interest rates on adjustable rate mortgages reset higher, many homeowners who have been unable to sell their homes or refinance existing home loans amid a drop in home prices have been forced into foreclosure.

Nevada had 24,657 foreclosure filings in the second quarter, up nearly 26 percent from the previous quarter and up 147 percent from the second quarter of 2007.

California foreclosure activity in the second quarter increased 19 percent from the previous quarter. One in every 65 California households received a foreclosure filing during the quarter.

California, the most populous U.S. state, reported 202,599 foreclosure filings, the most of any state and up 198 percent from the second quarter of 2007.

Arizona had one foreclosure filing for every 70 households in the second quarter, with 37,230 filings, up nearly 36 percent from the previous quarter and 272 percent higher than the second quarter of 2007, RealtyTrac said.

Florida ranked fourth with one foreclosure filing for every 78 households in the second quarter, with 109,433 filings, up nearly 25 percent from the previous quarter and 182 percent higher than the second quarter of 2007, RealtyTrac said.

[LenaHuat]

MM

Lena - I think that is a smart move on their part... split into several different banks... to protect yourself

It's only sane to do this. In Spore, we gonna split into many S$20,000 which is all too ridiculous

Foreclosures : Where do these Americans go?? Unlikely to live with relatives as they don't have the idea of the extended family like Asians. Camping in auto-vans

[kennynah]

under bridges
subway toilets....

[blid2def]

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/story.aspx?guid={8AA21F55-D848-4076-B9EF-282FEAD95B1D}

REAL ESTATE
How the housing bill hits home
What the pending legislation will do for you -- and what it won't do
By Amy Hoak, MarketWatch
Last update: 6:07 p.m. EDT July 28, 2008

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- One of the highlights of the housing bill waiting to be signed by President Bush is a tax credit of up to $7,500 for first-time home buyers. But read a little closer and it doesn't seem quite as appealing for buyers: that credit has to be paid back.

That's just one of the lines of fine print in the bill that mutes the benefit to consumers, housing analysts say.
According to the bill, the tax credit has to be returned in installments over 15 years. In essence, the perk amounts to a no-interest loan, said Cameron Findlay, chief economist for LendingTree.com, an online company that matches consumers with lenders.

Visit link above for full story + comments.