'Toxic assets' are hot again

U.S. home-value decline far worse than in 2009
Source: Bloomberg News U.S. home values are poised to drop by more than $1.7 Trillion this year amid rising Foreclosures and the expiration of home-buyer Tax Credits, said Zillow Inc., a closely held provider of home price data. This year's estimated decline, more than the $1.05 Trillion drop in 2009, brings the loss since the June 2006 home-price peak to $9 trillion, the company said Thursday. The drop pushed more buyers underwater, meaning they owe more on their Mortgages than their homes are ...

Quietly Ticking Time Bomb in Fed Data
Last week, the Federal Reserve was finally forced by law to release some (not all) of the details of its back-door Bailout of the global Financial System. The Fed data focuses on the emergency Lending programs initiated in 2007/2008, but it also includes data for the Fed’s more recent purchases of Mortgage-backed securities (MBS). These later purchases represent the real risk for Taxpayers in the Fed’s continuing Bailout activities, but have received the least coverage in the mains...

U.S. Home Values to Drop by $1.7 Trillion This Year, Zillow Says
© Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg Housing demand has slumped since the start of the year as the government Tax Credit expired and Unemployment hovers near 10 percent. U.S. home values are poised to drop by more than $1.7 Trillion this year amid rising Foreclosures and the expiration of homebuyer tax credits, said Zillow Inc., a closely held provider of home price data. This year's estimated decline, more than the $1.05 Trillion drop in 2009, brings the loss since the June 2006 home-price peak...

U.S. Home Values to Drop by $1.7 Trillion This Year, Zillow Says
© Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg Housing demand has slumped since the start of the year as the government Tax Credit expired and Unemployment hovers near 10 percent. U.S. home values are poised to drop by more than $1.7 Trillion this year amid rising Foreclosures and the expiration of homebuyer tax credits, said Zillow Inc., a closely held provider of home price data. This year's estimated decline, more than the $1.05 Trillion drop in 2009, brings the loss since the June 2006 home-price peak...

Bank complaints soar even after law changes
FILE - In this file photo taken July 21, 2010, a "bank owned" sign is seen on a home that is listed as a Foreclosure on a HUD website, in Hawthorne, Calif. Complaints against banks are soaring, suggesting that new laws and regulations put in place since the Financial Crisis two years ago aren't dampening Americans' anger over overdraft fees and Foreclosure practices they view as unfair. Complaints against banks are soaring, suggesting that new laws and regulations put in place since the financia...

Home Values Lose $1.7 Trillion in 2010, Prices Still Falling
Remember that brief period earlier this year when Home Prices appeared to be stabilizing? It didn't last. After a losing $680 billion of value in the first half of the year, the Housing Market is expected to lose another Trillion dollars in the second half, according to online Real Estate marketplace Zillow.com. A separate report from Real Estate consulting firm Clear Capital confirms that Home Prices continue to fall, down 5.8% in the last quarter. Let's start with the decline in the housing m...

US home values set to drop 1.7 trillion dollars in 2010
Zillow, a firm which tracks Home Prices, said the 2010 losses will bring to nine Trillion dollars the total decline since the market peak in June 2006. The bulk of the total value lost during 2010 was in the second half of the year, Zillow said. From January to June, the Housing Market lost 680 billion dollars, and Zillow projected residential home value losses for the second half of the year will top one Trillion dollars. "Despite a strong start to 2010, by the end of the year homes lost more...

Las Vegas home sales, prices see November gains after recent slide
The slide in Home Prices and sales in Southern Nevada that raised concerns a month ago about the future of the Housing Market has halted for now. The Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors reported this morning that November sales of single-family homes rose 6.8 percent over October and that Home Prices rose 1.4 percent. That comes after October sales fell 7.4 percent from September and were down 27 percent from October 2009. November sales were down only 11 percent from November 2009, the GL...

How the Housing Mess Hit My Neighborhood
For the past few years, when my toddler and I went for a walk around the block in our neighborhood in New Jersey, a suburb of Philadelphia, we passed a spooky-looking house with overgrown trees and a faded stucco exterior. Number 22 looked as if no one lived there, although my neighbors assured me that it was occupied. At least that was the case until about a year ago, when its owner fled her residence for parts unknown. The house has been a blight on the neighborhood ever since. (See the phot...

Home Values May Drop by $1.7 Trillion This Year...
Housing demand has slumped since the start of the year as the government Tax Credit expired and Unemployment hovers near 10 percent. Photographer: Derick E. Hingle/Bloomberg U.S. home values are poised to drop by more than $1.7 Trillion this year amid rising Foreclosures and the expiration of homebuyer tax credits, said Zillow Inc., a closely held provider of home price data. This year’s estimated decline, more than the $1.05 Trillion drop in 2009, brings the loss since the June 2006 hom...

NYC foreclosure rates hit Brooklyn, Bronx hardest
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Homeowners in New York's predominantly minority neighborhoods of Brooklyn and The Bronx are more likely than other borrowers to have subprime Mortgages and many now face Foreclosure, according to a university study. The rate of subprime home purchase Lending in New York City rose to about 23 percent in 2005, and in some poorer neighborhoods the share of new home purchase loans was 50 percent or higher. The national average is 17 percent, according to a New York University dr...

Housing agencies clash over mortgage-relief program
The top federal agencies responsible for setting Housing Policy are clashing over a new program designed to help borrowers whose homes are worth less than they owe on their Mortgages, according to industry and government sources. This Story Housing agencies clash over mortgage-relief program The politics of the Foreclosure crisis Your Take: How has the Foreclosure mess impacted you? Full coverage: Foreclosure system in chaos View All Items in This Story View Only Top Items in This Story The F...

The American mortgage mess: Invest then protest
AMERICA’S Foreclosure Scandal is still reverberating. Congress recently held hearings on Mortgage lenders’ use of “robo-signers” to stamp Eviction documents without bothering to read them first. An investigation by the 50 states’ attorneys-general may result in a settlement with banks—perhaps early next year—that could include pledges to reform industry practices. And the right of Mortgage servicers (which administer payments to investors) to foreclose o...

Treasury Blocks Legal Aid for Homeowners Facing Foreclosure (The Nation)
The Nation -- With the media’s laser-like focus on the Obama-Republican tax deal, here’s a story that’s underreported: the Obama Administration’s coddling of the Big Banks and simultaneous neglect of Homeowners facing Foreclosure. Consider this: the recent Fed Audit revealed over $3.3 Trillion in emergency assistance to the banks and other corporate behemoths during the Financial Crisis--no strings attached. Two Trillion dollars to Morgan Stanley here, $600 billion to G...

Treasury Bars Use of TARP Funds to Help Borrowers Facing Foreclosure
If you had any doubts about whose side the Administration is on, this story should settle all doubts. From the Nation: Consider this: the recent Fed Audit revealed over $3.3 Trillion in emergency assistance to the banks and other corporate behemoths during the Financial Crisis-no strings attached…. Then consider the 19 states which are recipients of the Hardest Hit Fund (HHF)-a portion of TARP money set aside to help Homeowners in states struggling with the highest unemployme...

Majority of Americans Say Fed Should Be Reined In or Abolished, Poll Shows
A majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the nation’s independent Central Bank, saying the U.S. Federal Reserve should either be brought under tighter political control or abolished outright, a poll shows. The Bloomberg National Poll underlines the extent to which the central bank’s standing has suffered as it has come under fire in Congress, first from Democrats for regulatory lapses before the Financial Crisis and then from Republicans for failing to revive an economy in which t...

Region's housing market won't improve in 2011, experts say
The Washington area's Housing Market isn't expected to rebound for at least a year, and 2011 could mark a new low for some areas, according to Real Estate experts. Home Prices are expected to stay flat through at least the first half of the year, according to Rick Sharga, senior Vice President of RealtyTrac, a Foreclosure-tracking firm in Irvine, Calif. But in areas with higher foreclosure rates -- like Prince George's and Prince William counties -- the market could worsen. "In the more distres...

How to Avoid a Bidding War on Your Next Home Purchase
The Housing Market is making a comeback and Mortgage Interest Rates are low, but there’s a new challenge for Home Buyers. Competition from other buyers is on the rise as more people are taking advantage of the situation. This is driving up the Home Prices as well as shutting potential buyers out of the homes they want. [In Pictures: 12 Money Mistakes Almost Everyone Makes] This is starting a bidding war among potential buyers and many are making mistakes in the pursuit of the American Dr...

US housing doldrums 'until 2013'
Some 58% of Americans expect the US Housing Market to stay depressed for two or more years, a survey has found. In the survey, 48% of respondents said they would consider walking away from their Mortgage if they were in negative equity - up from 41% since May. The findings by property websites Trulia and RealtyTrac come as house prices have begun falling again. They suggest the market may face a new wave of Mortgage defaults as Americans lose respect for Scandal-hit banks. The attorneys general ...

House prices 'fell in November'
UK house prices have continued to slip, falling by 0.1% in November from the previous month, the Halifax says. The lender, now part of Lloyds Banking Group, said that the average property was now 0.7% cheaper than a year ago, at £164,708. Sluggish demand and a higher number of properties for sale had pushed down prices, it said. But it said that signs of a reluctance to sell from some Homeowners could halt the decline in prices. The three-month on three-month comparison, a less volatile mea...

Home values tumble $1.7 trillion
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Can't sell your home for a decent price? You're not alone. American homes are expected to be worth $1.7 Trillion less in 2010 than they were worth last year, according to a report released Thursday by Real Estate website Zillow. Email Print Comment This year's drop in home values is 63% bigger than the $1 Trillion dip in 2009, and brings the total value lost since the Housing Market's peak in 2006 to a whopping $9 trillion. While the homebuyer Tax Credit helped prop u...

Looks like we were right, residential housing looks like it went down
This goes to show you what we have been saying since we started this blog in late 2009. We were calling for at least a 20% loss in retail home values over the next three years. We were advising our blog readers to sell and rent and whatever happens do not buy. 2010 was a terrible year for Home Prices. The year is not over and it looks like we nailed it. Of course, that is still only my opinion. Economist are sorry predictors. I'd speak with a trader any day over an economist. Zillow published...

On MBIAs Suit Against Morgan Stanley on a Second Lien Deal Gone Bad
In theory, I’m a wee bit late to the item at hand, a suit by failed Mortgage bond insurer MBIA against Morgan Stanley on a second Mortgage deal. But in practice, I’ve not seen any commentary on it and the suit has some interesting wrinkles. Before we get to the details, however, a general issue: looking at this case is like deciding which of Cinderella’s bad sisters is less ugly. While Mortgage bond originators and sponsors did not cover themselves in glory in the later year...

Chinese Property Shares Sink on Overpriced Home Prices
In Asia Thursday China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.3% to close at 2,811 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.3% to end the day at 23,172. In Japan the Nikkei 225 Index rose 0.5% to 10,286. News that a major Chinese Think Tank, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that Real Estate prices are overpriced to the tune of nearly 30% took the property sector by storm today. The organization released its annual report saying that in five of the 35 cities they investigated, propert...

Irish Eyes Are Crying, Part 11
Ireland's Labor Party just took a shillelagh to the Bailout deal, and the euro just found a nice cliff to jump off of as a result. The Dollar rose against the euro on Thursday after an Irish political party said it would vote against an emergency European Union Bailout for the country and a Ratings agency cut Ireland's Sovereign Debt rating. The euro fell to session lows around $1.3169 EUR= and was last trading at $1.3185, down about 0.5 percent on the day. Ireland's Labor Party said it would vo...