Friday, September 07, 2007

MBA - "HUD Unveils The FHASecure Initiative; Provides Guidance" (9-6-07)

"The Federal Housing Administration rolled out an initiative that will enable homeowners to refinance various types of adjustable rate mortgages (ARMs) that have recently reset. This mortgagee letter describes how lenders and homeowners may refinance mortgages that, due to the increased mortgage payment following the reset, have become delinquent. The mortgagee letter also reiterates guidance to lenders about making objective decisions regarding the underlying collateral in declining markets. The FHASecure initiative, which is a temporary program designed to provide refinancing opportunities to homeowners and to increase liquidity in the mortgage market, requires that the loan application be signed no later than December 31, 2008."

MBA - "Delinquencies Increase in Latest MBA National Delinquency Survey" (9-6-07)

"The delinquency rate for mortgage loans on one-to-four-unit residential properties stood at 5.12 percent of all loans outstanding in the second quarter of 2007 on a seasonally adjusted (SA) basis, up 28 basis points from the first quarter of 2007, and up 73 basis points from one year ago, according to MBA’s National Delinquency Survey. The delinquency rate does not include loans in the process of foreclosure. The percentage of loans in the foreclosure process was 1.40 percent of all loans outstanding at the end of the second quarter, an increase of 12 basis points from the first quarter of 2007 and 41 basis points from one year ago."

Bloomberg - "CPDOs Rated AAA May Risk Default, CreditSights Says" (9-6-07)

"Credit derivatives awarded the top ratings by Moody's Investors Service and Standard & Poor's may be as vulnerable to default as high-risk, high-yield bonds, according to independent research firm CreditSights Inc. Constant proportion debt obligations, known as CPDOs, use credit-default swaps to speculate that a group of companies with investment-grade ratings will repay their debt. An increase in credit rating cuts for investment-grade companies may cause losses that CPDOs would struggle to recoup, CreditSights said in a report entitled 'Distressed CPDOs: We're Doomed!'"

Yahoo - "Money market rates set to weigh on Wall Street" (9-6-07)

"Wall Street was set for a defensive start on Thursday with investors unable to take solace from some better than expected retail sales for August amid concerns over elevated money market rates. Stocks in Europe were trading lower ahead of Wall Street's open. Both the Bank of England and European Central Bank left their overnight lending rates unchanged at 5.75 per cent and 4 per cent respectively."

Market Watch - "New foreclosures set record in latest MBA survey" (9-6-07)

"According to the group's quarterly delinquency survey, a seasonally adjusted 0.65% of loans on one- to four-unit residential properties entered the foreclosure process during the period, the highest level in the survey's 55-year history. In the first quarter, when the previous record was set, 0.58% of loans entered the process; a year ago, 0.43% entered the process."

Bloomberg - "ECB Pumps Extra Cash Into Markets, Shelves Rate Increase" (9-6-07)

"The European Central Bank pumped 42.2 billion euros ($57.7 billion) into money markets to lower borrowing costs and said there's more to come as it shelved an increase in the benchmark interest rate. Policy makers meeting in Frankfurt kept the refinancing rate at 4 percent, stepping back from an increase signaled on Aug. 2 by ECB President Jean-Claude Trichet, after the U.S. housing slump threatened to curb economic growth."

Bloomberg - "U.S. Home Foreclosures, Delinquencies at Record High" (9-6-07)

"The number of Americans who may lose their homes to foreclosure reached a record in the second quarter as late payments by subprime borrowers surged to one out of every seven loans. Lenders began the process of seizing properties on 0.65 percent of U.S. mortgages in the second quarter, an all-time high, the Mortgage Bankers Association said in a report today. In the first quarter, that figure was 0.58 percent. The percentage of subprime borrowers making late payments increased to 14.82 from 13.77."

Bloomberg - "Countrywide Drops Below Bank of America's Deal Price" (9-6-07)

"Countrywide Financial Corp. shares briefly dropped below $18, erasing the $700 million paper profit Bank of America Corp. made when it invested $2 billion in the nation's biggest mortgage lender two weeks ago. Bank of America, the second-largest U.S. bank, bought preferred stock on Aug. 22 that can be converted to common shares at $18. Countrywide, which surged to $24.46 the day after the deal was announced, fell as low as $17.95 today on the New York Stock Exchange. The stock closed at $18.48."


Yahoo - "The Most Expensive Blocks in the U.S." (9-6-07)

"For the first time ever Forbes.com has generated a list of the most expensive blocks in 10 cities across the country. To do so, we created an index with California-based data provider Reply! of the 100 most expensive properties in each city, mapped them geographically and then measured home values and the concentration of high-priced home values in each particular cluster."

Bloomberg - "Global Credit Rout May Paralyze Infrastructure Loans" (9-6-07)

"The global credit rout sparked by the U.S. subprime mortgage slump may leave as much as $34 billion of leveraged loans for railroads, tollways and similar projects 'paralyzed,' said analysts at Standard & Poor's. Banks are less likely to lend to infrastructure projects after being saddled with as much as $332 billion of unsold leveraged loans, the S&P report said."

LewRockwell.com - "The Government-Created Subprime Mortgage Meltdown" (9-6-07)

"The thousands of mortgage defaults and foreclosures in the 'subprime' housing market (i.e., mortgage holders with poor credit ratings) is the direct result of thirty years of government policy that has forced banks to make bad loans to un-creditworthy borrowers. The policy in question is the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act (CRA), which compels banks to make loans to low-income borrowers and in what the supporters of the Act call "communities of color" that they might not otherwise make based on purely economic criteria."

Los Angeles Times - "U.S. pending home sales plunge, private job gains fade" (9-6-07)

"Pending sales of existing U.S. homes plunged by a record 12.2 percent in July, and private employers hired the fewest workers in more than four years in August, according to reports released today that point to a weakening U.S. economy. Planned lay-offs at U.S. companies surged by 85 percent in August due to turmoil in the subprime mortgage market, another report said."

No comments: