Post Tagged with: "mortgages"
Australian House Prices down 10% from Peak
Australian house prices peaked in June 2010. The motive force behind Australia’s bubble was the same as in the USA and Japan: accelerating debt drove rising house prices during the boom. Now in both those countries, decelerating debt is driving house prices down. The same pattern applies in Australia
Bank of Canada: House price-to-income ratio outstrips norm by 35%
I have noted a number of times in the past that household debt levels in Canada have reached worrying levels. I am not the only one on to this. Canadian central bank head Mark Carney was in the news yesterday sounding the alarm on this as well. Mark Carney noted that Canadian household debt is being driven by a rise in house prices that has caused the house price/income ratio to now be 35% above the norm in Canada
The growing optimism on housing is not justified
The bullish argument that houses are now generally affordable also does not hold up on closer examination. As we have repeated ad infinitum the average household has too much debt and is in the midst of deleveraging rather than taking on more debt. Furthermore, households, on average, do not have enough cash for a down payment or a high enough credit score to qualify for the more stringent credit standards put into effect following the credit crisis. Neither do they have enough income
Bill Gross on his expectations for QE3 and more
The following transcript and video is courtesy of Bloomberg TV where Bill Gross spoke to Margaret Brennan today, telling her that he thinks the Fed will go Qe3, but that it will shift to mortgage backed securities when Operation Twist ends in June. He doesn’t limit his commentary to the Fed and QE3. There’s a lot more here. Enjoy
The preposterous credit world view presented in Ben Bernanke’s lecture series at George Washington University
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s lecture series at George Washington University is most unfortunate. The first instinct, at least here, is to let it pass. Two of the man’s characteristics will be addressed in what follows. First, his inability to anticipate. Second, his limited understanding of the past, which is a cause of his inability to anticipate
Government’s role in the subprime crisis
Could a new paper published by researchers from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis finally answer the question of whether affordable housing laws caused the subprime crisis? Yes
[Premium] Daily commentary: Will Ireland get a bank debt writedown?
This daily commentary is a bronze-level post. Today’s comment is on the Irish desire to get their tracker mortgage obligations written down
Chris Whalen has serious questions about the Fed’s stress tests
I love Chris Whalen’s bank industry analysis. I featured his CNBC commentary yesterday. Today is his commentary from last night’s Capital Account
Buy or rent as rents rise and house prices fall?
This is a good segment from CNBC on the dichotomy we see in the housing market of still falling house prices and rising rents. Is the rise in rents a foreshadowing of house prices stabilising? Take a look
Anecdotes of Mortgage Fraud
Appraisers are pursuing class action suits against banks, asserting they were blacklisted if they refused to engage in fraudulent appraisals. The problem is that if they win, they are then subject to suit by homeowners (who are losing their homes) since they overpaid, and got mortgage loans that were far too high relative to “fundamentals”
Wall Street’s Broken Windows
The troubling paradox is that the strongest proponents of “broken windows” theory and policies in the blue collar crime context are the strongest opponents of applying analogous policies in the elite white collar crime context
Fannie Putting Dubious Loans Back to BofA, So BofA Will Stick Them to Freddie Instead
It looks like someone at Fannie woke up and realized that any case of a guarantor voiding a policy was prima facie evidence that BofA had breached a rep and warranty about loan quality. Look at the examples: inflated appraisals and incomes