Mortgage loan applications have increased 23% this last week due to record low rates.
Mortgage loan applications have increased 23% this last week due to record low rates.
Orlando, FL (MBNews.org) -- Historic record low have encouraged many homeowners to refinance according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
We have seen refinancing activity climbed 26.4% just this week week ending January 13, to its highest level since early August, the MBA reported. Meanwhile applications for new mortgages climbed 10.3% week-over-week.
Read more...
Time to buy a house? Home prices have fallen and mortgage interest rates are lower than they have ever been.
Miami (MBNews.org) — Time to buy a house? Home prices have fallen and mortgage interest rates are lower than they have ever been.
A recent report from J.P. Morgan Asset Management, titled “Housing: A time to buy,” written by David Kelly and David Lebovitz, made the case for why a home may be a wise purchase. Read more: Mortgage rates plunge beyond expectations.
Although the U.S. housing market remains extremely depressed, we believe that given current valuations and demographic dynamics, now may be the time to consider an investment in housing,” the report said.
Read more...Goldman, Two Firms Agree on Foreclosure-Signing Practice
Goldman Sachs will compensate some home loan borrowers for wrongful foreclosures under an agreement reached with a New York state banking regulator.
The agreement, which New York financial services superintendent Benjamin Lawsky reached with Goldman [GS 112.16 -4.06 (-3.49%) ] and Ocwen Financial [OCN 13.28 -0.52 (-3.77%) ], contains several measures to strengthen the oversight of foreclosure proceedings.
It also will allow Goldman's planned sale of its Litton Loan Servicing LP unit to continue.
Read more...U.S. asks Bank of America to report back up plans if conditions worsen
The U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency plans to sue "more than a dozen" major banks for billions of dollars over alleged misrepresentation of mortgage-backed securities sold before the housing bubble burst, the New York Times reported late Thursday.
The U.S. Federal Housing Finance Agency plans to sue "more than a dozen" major banks for billions of dollars over alleged misrepresentation of mortgage-backed securities sold before the housing bubble burst, the New York Times reported late Thursday.
Read more...U.S. asks Bank of America to report back up plans if conditions worsen
U.S. regulators have pushed Bank of America Corp. to show what measures it could take if conditions worsen for the Charlotte, N.C., lender, according to people familiar with the situation.
U.S. regulators have pushed Bank of America Corp. to show what measures it could take if conditions worsen for the Charlotte, N.C., lender, according to people familiar with the situation. Read more...
More Americans at Risk of Foreclosure
The number of Americans at risk of foreclosure is rising, reflecting the U.S. economy’s continued struggles.
The number of Americans at risk of foreclosure is rising, reflecting the U.S. economy’s continued struggles.
The Mortgage Bankers Association said Monday that 8.44 percent of homeowners missed at least one mortgage payment in the April-June quarter. That figure, which is adjusted for seasonal factors, rose 0.12 percentage point from the January-March period. Read more...
New York AG Kicked Off Foreclosure Probe Panel
Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller said late yesterday that his New York counterpart, Eric Schneiderman, had been removed from the executive committee working on a multistate foreclosure probe – and potential settlement – with U.S. banks.
| Covered Bond Sales Collapse as Investors Favor Newer Bank Debt |
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| Thursday, 12 March 2009 00:00 | |||
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Sales of covered bonds, which are secured on real-estate or public-sector loans and typically get the top AAA credit ratings, shrank 50 percent from a year ago to 27 billion euros ($35 billion) in the first quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Banks and companies’ financial divisions sold $120 billion of state-backed bonds in the same period as part of government efforts to unfreeze lending. “Covered bonds have fallen victim to a crowding-out effect triggered by government-guaranteed issues,” said Leef Dierks, a covered bond analyst at Barclays Capital in Frankfurt. “Investors perceive government-guaranteed securities to be safer than covered bonds.” Governments started backing financial firms’ debt late last year as a way of easing access to funding after banks lost or wrote down $1.2 trillion since the beginning of the credit crisis. The new asset class eroded demand for covered bonds, which date back to 1770s Prussia and underpinned the pre-2007 real-estate boom and drove economic growth. Covered bonds are secured by property loans or lending to public-sector institutions, and differ from mortgage-backed securities because they’re also supported by a borrower’s pledge to pay. They have traditionally been considered among the safest corporate bonds available, allowing lenders to pay less interest. Revive Trading More than 180 investors and issuers are meeting in London today to discuss ways to revive trading in the covered-bond market and the impact of government-guaranteed bank issues. The European Covered Bond Council, which represents lenders and borrowers, called for banks to suspend trading in the securities in November 2007 after the 2.1 trillion-euro market stalled because of contagion from U.S. subprime mortgages. The market has since reopened, though “trading flows are slower than last year,” said Dierks at Barclays. “I still invest in covered bonds but the pace of my investments has slowed because of a lack of secondary-market trading and a shortage of new issues,” said Jozef Prokes, a portfolio manager at National Bank of Slovakia, who helps manage about 10 billion euros of assets. Investors are demanding close to the highest-ever yields relative to government notes to buy covered bonds, according to Merrill Lynch & Co.’s European Non-Pfandbriefe Covered Bond Index. The spread has widened 21 basis points to 199 since the start of the year, Merrill data show. A basis point is 0.01 percentage point. Standard & Poor’s last month proposed changing the way it grades covered bonds, including linking the debt’s ratings to that of the issuing bank and taking more account of potential losses from the forced sales of underlying assets. Banks, issuers and investors have until March 27 to give feedback to the New York-based ratings company. SOURCE: Bloomberg
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