BBC Radio 5Live: Return of the Debt (mp3)

How would you feel if you suddenly found out that you owe tens of thousands of pounds for a debt that you didn't know you had? The 5 Live Report has learned that people whose homes were repossessed over a decade ago are now being pursued by lenders who say they didn't recover enough money from the sale of their property. Reporter Penny Haslam speaks to people who have rebuilt their lives, with new families and new homes, who are now facing court action for debts that have come back to haunt them more than 10 years on.

Posted by little professor @ 11:11 PM 19 Comments

Daily Mail: House prices likely to fall by a quarter in two years

House prices in Britain could fall by 25 per cent before mid-2010, forecasters at Capital Economics have warned.

Independent: 'Vicious cycle' for borrowers as more mortgages are withdrawn

As mortgage companies compete to avoid business, could the internet be taking a new role? Price comparison sites were not around last time. Now, you can find out the best deal in a few seconds. This will speed the feedback process of banks withdrawing best deals literally to the speed of light. The second a lender pulls the best deal, another lender, who is now the best deal, gets inundated, and pulls their product or puts up rates, and so the cycle continues, until when exactly? The viscious cycle means even more deflation, which makes assets yet more risky, and so the trough should be greater for this and other reasons this time around.

Posted by planning4acrash @ 10:17 PM 9 Comments

Daily Mash: GLOBAL ECONOMY NOW RUN BY F*CKNUTS

It is the largest domestic pet the US central bank has given out, and almost ten times the size of the chinchilla issued to every household in the wake of the dotcom crash of March 2000.

Guardian: Ex-Northern Rock boss gets £750,000

Northern Rock will ignite a storm of controversy tomorrow when it reveals that its former boss Adam Applegarth received a £750,000 pay-off when he left last December.

Posted by quiet guy @ 07:52 PM 9 Comments

Entrepreneur: Buying Property Abroad? Beware Of Fool’s Gold

Article about Brits buying property in Spain and getting caught out by not using solicitors. I just hope one of those apartments in the picture isn't yours.

Telegraph: Hedge Fund "Legends" hit by Financial Turmoil

Even when the markets turned last year, the hedge funds' high jinks continued. Stephen Partridge-Hicks, the former Citibank debt guru and head of Gordian Knot, one of the big credit hedge funds and so hit first, tackled the crisis by splurging thousands of pounds on a show-stopping party. In October, as his fund tanked, he chartered a plane to fly 150 mates to Morocco where he had hired Marrakech's upmarket Amanjena hotel for a James Bond-themed party. On top of the usual champagne and haute cuisine, Patridge-Hicks staged a James Bond scene - complete with actors, stunts, a real submarine and a fly-by from two Mig jets - starring himself as 007.

Evening Star: Flat broke at the Waterfront

Even more evidence that the new-build apartment bubble has already burst - if any was needed. There are still lots of 'luxury' apartments under construction here in Ipswich, will be interesting to see how many they can shift.

san francisco chronicle: asset bubbles

An article from 2005, maybe some one in the banks should of listened? This is a global problem and the only voice i can hear is timber!!

BBC News: Debt time bomb over repossessions

As fears grow of another crash in the property market, some of those who had their homes repossessed in the last housing slump are still suffering the consequences.

This Is Money: Mortgage famine hits building societies

At the end of a week in which the Bank of England pledged to help ease the credit crisis, homeowners desperate for new mortgage deals were being turned away in even bigger numbers as competitive rates evaporated before their eyes.

MoneyWeek: Bear rescue won’t end the credit crisis

Market confidence has been bolstered by the Fed overseeing a rescue of Bear Stearns. But that and its various measures to improve liquidity won’t solve the credit crisis - note that interbank lending rates have kept rising, showing that banks are still hoarding cash. The worry is that some banks may be forced into insolvency as the value of their securities slide.

Telegraph: It's not just the property market that's overheated

Phil Spencer, the television property expert, was taken aback by the insults that rained on his head last week. The presenter of Channel 4 programmes, including Location, Location, Location, was described as a "confidence trickster" and a "smarmy snake-oil property-porn merchant". His crime? He had dared to suggest that the property market was not collapsing. Kirstie Allsop, his 36-year-old co-presenter, has also been the target of seemingly orchestrated ambushes when she has taken part in radio phone-ins. The "doomsters", who express their views on a number of "property crash" websites... have a vested interest in talking down the market and spreading fear and uncertainty.

Posted by little professor @ 11:35 AM 70 Comments

ThisIsMoney: Pressure for rate cut as house prices fall

"The Bank voted against another rate cut this month on grounds that inflation was running well above the 2% target, driven by rising food and energy costs. But Fionnuala Earley, Nationwide's chief economist, said the Bank should act in April to ease lending conditions and breathe life into the housing market" after fudging real inflation data with the CPI, now the CPI too is running away, so what you need to do? cut? in the words of Diana C of Lombard Research, the biggest problem the BoE has is to cool this overheated economy. I hope Mervyn and co make the right choice next week. Look at the 59 comments to the article, all say the same. God Save The Pound!

Posted by confused76 @ 11:21 AM 11 Comments

Mail: Queen cancels diamond wedding party in wake of economic gloom

"The Queen has cancelled a party to mark her diamond wedding anniversary because she felt it would be "inappropriate" to hold a lavish celebration with the country on the brink of recession" I thing Gordon is already packing.

Posted by confused76 @ 12:55 AM 18 Comments

Sunday Express: BUY TO LET EXODUS TO SPARK COLLAPSE

DESPERATE landlords are about to flood the fragile property market with buy-to-let homes. Half a million owners have been badly hit by rising interest rates and are struggling to make a profit on their investment. Experts predict they will want to cash in. The mass dumping that results could send house prices plummeting to levels not seen since the recession of the early Nineties.

Posted by little professor @ 12:51 AM 17 Comments

Observer: House prices likely to fall by 25% in two years

House prices in Britain could crash by 25 per cent before mid-2010, forecasters at Capital Economics have warned. That would wipe £45,000 off the value of an average house. Other UK housing bears include David Miles, chief UK economist at Morgan Stanley. He reckons the market is due a 20 per cent correction. If he and Capital are broadly correct, a significant number of people who bought two years ago will find themselves in negative equity by 2010.

Sunday Times: Northern Rock profits dive after huge writedown

Some interesting snippets in this article including the fact that mortgage arrears in the bank’s mortgage book climbed almost 20% between January and February.

Sundat Times: On the home straight

I HAVE been writing here for years now about all the horrors that are finally coming to light – the end of the credit bubble, recession in America and so on. But the thing that I have focused on probably the most has been the housing bubble. I called its end rather too early (March, 2004!) but I can’t imagine that there are many people left who would still insist – as they have for the past five years – that the sharp rise in prices across Britain has not actually represented a bubble

Posted by bufferbear @ 10:15 PM 7 Comments

Finance Markets: Vendors lower prices to secure capital gains

Analysts at investment bank, JPMorgan, are forecasting that UK House prices will decline by 6% in 2008, and continue falling next year. At the end of 2007, the bank was predicting that prices would remain stagnant for at least a year, but last week, Malcolm Barr, JPMorgan’s chief UK economist, described the current situation as “pretty bleak”. Mr Barr explains: “The rapid slowing in prices, the step-up in new supply, and the marked drop in household expectations for house prices suggests the credit crisis has encouraged existing homeowners who were considering a sale to move quickly, and accept a lower price, to realise existing capital gains before they are eroded.”

Telegraph: Fame and Fortune: Melissa Porter

"My worst buy was a Range Rover I bought for £50,000 and later sold for £36,000" but "I've just bought a flat in Holland Park for £600,000 and I think I'll double my money in five months" and "Do you invest in anything else other than property? Yes, I have just started investing in art... I'm spreading my risk in property, art and also I'm thinking about wine. The art dealer I use really knows his onions" Wine and onions on canvas, whatever... I just love her!

Posted by confused76 @ 08:03 PM 33 Comments

FT: Mortgage upheavals and long view of the markets

Listen to the impartial advice and invest in French property! Why? Because mortgages are easier to get abroad and prices continue to grow. Utter tosh but clearly demonstrates that even Savills does not see the point of investing in UK property anymore. Bye bye BTL!

FT: House prices continue to fall in UK

+1.7% yoy HPI according to the front page of the FT, read the hard copy this morning and couldn't believe they were quoting the wrong figures. NW March report clearly quotes +1.1% yoy. What going on with the standard of journalism in this country? Authors; Chris Giles and Delphine Strauss. Anyone know how to email and complain....it's the front page FFS!

Posted by geed @ 04:13 PM 10 Comments

signs of the times Global Research: Is an International Financial Conspiracy Driving World Events?

The housing bubble has led to a huge inflation of real estate prices in the U.S. Millions of homes are falling into the hands of the bankers through foreclosure. The cost of land and rentals has further decimated family agriculture as well as small business. Rising property taxes based on inflated land assessments have forced millions of lower-and middle-income people and elderly out of their homes. The fact that bankers now control national monetary systems in their entirety, under laws where money is introduced only through lending at interest, has resulted in a massive debt pyramid that is teetering on collapse. Was Alan Greenspan really as dumb as he looks in creating the late housing bubble that threatens to bring the entire Western debt-based economy crashing down?

Posted by malct @ 03:54 PM 40 Comments

Moneyhighstreet.com: Falling house prices become a reality

By Fergal Barry-Murphy. Published On 29 March 2008 Falling house prices become a reality For British homeowners, the key question is no longer whether house prices will fall, but how much they will fall by. Some would argue that we should brace ourselves for a housing crash, while others expect a more subtle adjustment. What is sure is that house prices are falling. There are a number of contributing factors and in this case it is difficult to find a scapegoat for this worrying trend. For the most part, outside factors such as the global credit crunch are to blame. What is more, the rate of growth that we saw through the 1990s and the first half of this decade was unsustainable and had to come to an end at some point.

icwales.co.uk: House prices in Wales expected to fall by 10% as downward trend continues

House prices in Wales expected to fall by 10% as downward trend continues Mar 29 2008 by David Williamson, Western Mail HOUSE prices across the UK fell for the fifth month in a row during March as the market continued its downward trend. New data shows the average cost of a home in the UK dropped by 0.6% during the month to stand at £179,110, according to Nationwide Building Society. Welsh commentators said house prices in the region are expected to fall by up to 10%.

The Times: Credit crunch: Pinpointing the boom's turn into a nasty bust

At last, a tipping point is looming for Britain's national obsession: the housing market. The long boom in residential property prices has clearly been over for months, with volatile moves up and down in prices pointing to the market's shaky foundations. But with hindsight, it may well be that the past month or so will come to be seen as the decisive turning point when the long housing boom mutated into a nasty bust.

Nationwide: House prices

Page 2: negative momentum is building, for the first time more people think prices will fall than rise. Page 3: the 2006-2007 mini-bubble is well and over. Footnote 1: but still the (relative) majority of people think prices will be flat... good try Fioanuanallalllalla!

TimesOfLies: What's happening in the housing market where you live?

"Experts give their verdicts on the health of the property market around Britain" sure! "Expect to see heavy discounting of those homes that are too close to a road or a pylon" i.e. 90% of UK homes "The prices of those family homes don't move, except to go up" If sellers were to price more realistically at the same time as lenders were able to normalise lending criteria, we could see a speedier harmonisation of seller expectations and buyer affordability"

Posted by confused76 @ 12:12 PM 22 Comments

BBC: Housing in Meltdown?

Here's one idiot "I later caught the end of last night's Newsnight edition and heard the presenter, risibly, express astonishment in his review of the front pages that the Express was running a trend-bucking headline, "House prices continue to rise". The Express is right and it's not rocket science so the BBC should be able to get its pretty little head around the idea."

Posted by doomwatch @ 11:58 AM 9 Comments

DailyRecord.co.uk: £700k bill to tart up Commons Speaker's free home

COMMONS Speaker Michael Martin's London home has had more than £700,000 spent on it since he moved in, it was revealed last night. The cash went on items such as furniture, art and air conditioning for the grace and favour official residence. An additional £992,000 was spent on Speaker's Garden, although most of that went on improving security in the wake of 9/11.(Oh Good ! I was getting concerned for a moment) The spending spree was revealed last night as he faced pressure over his review of MPs' expenses. Martin, Labour MP for Glasgow North East, was elected Speaker in 2000. These are Figures released under the Freedom of Information Act . This Squeaker is doing OK. Is't he ?

Posted by plato @ 11:28 AM 9 Comments

Daily Mash: BANK PROFITS PLUNGE FROM OBSCENE TO REPULSIVE

"The fact is, they control every aspect of your lives - often in ways you dare not imagine - and could, if the notion takes them, snap you in half like a dry twig."

Seeking Alpha: Bear Stearns’ Bailout by the Fed, JPM: A Century Old Conspiracy

I found this article in an unlikely mainstream financial blog which shows from the comments which range from anger to gratitude that it was published. "J.P. Morgan’s chairman, James Dimon holds a board seat at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The Fed and U.S. Treasury brokered a deal for J.P. Morgan in haste without question. Usually, such huge deals or mergers would go through committees or FTC oversight, but none of that here –a quick weekend jaunt in the park." If the Fed is such a dubious power hungry private bank why does our BoE play along? I don't think I was alone in thinking over the past few years housing bubble what was really going on, letting so much personal debt build up when there was no hope of paying it back?

Express: HOUSE PRICES STILL ON THE RISE

"HOUSE prices have risen by more than £30 every day over the past five years, it was revealed yesterday" Ah haha hahahhahha Ah haha hahahhahha Ah haha hahahhahha Ah haha hahahhahha. Where is Greenbay?

Posted by confused76 @ 10:11 AM 25 Comments

Daily Express: HOUSE PRICES STILL ON THE RISE

Well this made me laugh. Not going to be too long before they can't say they're still rising.

FT: John Authers: Contrary to your expectations

"Mortgage lenders, most recently Nationwide, the nation’s second biggest, are deliberately raising rates to make themselves less competitive. This is the very definition of a credit crunch, and it is only just starting." John Authers, one of the few financial journalists whose analysis carries weight.

Daily Mash: DARLING SETS FIRE TO HUGE PILE OF MONEY

Mr Darling has been steadily increasing the mound outside the Treasury since last September, as City analysts debated whether he would torch it or use it to buy Sir Richard Branson a new balloon.

Newsnight: Housing in meltdown

Here it is if you missed yesterday's Newsnight on BBC2

Posted by yoyo1 @ 08:29 AM 31 Comments

Bloomberg: if only I could get the Fed's help when I am bad

And now, fully qualified, would-be homebuyers looking for low-interest mortgages get turned away by lenders unwilling to pass along rate cuts the Fed gave them specifically to make lending easier and revitalize the economy.

Times: Credit crunch: British house values fall £7,000 since October

First time the headlines say so clear. CRASH!!!! Where is Greenbay and his property mini-empire (now worth thousands less!). What is he gonna tell the chaps at the pub tonight? "Nationwide's economists yesterday abandoned their past insistence that residential property values would at worst be flat this year and gave warning that prices would continue to slide" I am having a laugh

Daily Express: HOUSE PRICES STILL ON THE RISE

The Express has lost touch with reality. Quote of the article " there is more chance of finding Elvis on the moon than house prices crashing over the next five years." Next Week: Did Elves take Maddie to the Moon?

The Motley Fool: Beat the Mortgage Rate Rises

Nationwide, for example, has just increased its entire two-year tracker mortgage range by 0.57% This means that if you only have a 5% deposit, you will pay a whopping 7.1% with the Nationwide. And its lifetime tracker range rate is up 0.51%.

Bloomberg: German `Super Bank' Is Being Considered, Stern Magazine Says

Isn't this what the ECB is anyway?????

Welsh Liberal Democrats: Government misses opportunity to help key workers get on the housing ladder

The Welsh Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Housing, Peter Black, has accused the Labour-Plaid Welsh Government of missing an opportunity to help poorly paid key workers after they revealed that they will no longer fund the HomeBuy scheme for first time buyers on most properties.

Bloomberg: ECB lends six-month cash as policy makers warn of higher rates

Anyone see the problem the ECB seem to be missing?

bloomberg: pound falls to record low against the euro as consumer confidence slumps

This fact is being hidden from the general public, to save the government and the BoE from being forced to raise interest rates to protect the pound, and fight inflation, as the money men control the purse strings and the puppet strings of the government. They will continue to drop rates, to feed the financials who will hoard and store and covet, but not pass these cuts onto the public, except through cutting saving rates. Then, when inflation is so high that the BoE will have had to write more than one letter to the chancellor, will interest rates rise, and rise and rise until Icelands rate will look like a cheap deal. Two years of pain...closer to the/fifteen years of pain for the British public through pandering to the government masters in the city. IMHO.

Financial Times: Cayne sells stake in Bear for $61m

Jimmy Cayne, a one-time travelling salesman who became a paper billionaire last year as chief executive of Bear Stearns, has sold his entire stake in the investment bank for a little more than $61m. According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Mr Cayne sold 5.6m Bear shares for $10.84 each on Tuesday, a day after after JPMorgan Chase agreed to raise its bid for the stricken investment bank fivefold to $10 a share. Mr Cayne’s wife, Patricia, sold 45,669 shares at the same price.

Spiegel: German Banks Could Hemorrhage 70 Billion Euros

Subprime losses of 70 Billion Euros mooted at German Banks with exposure to US Toxic Waste. Before we get too happy about this maybe their reporting is more honest or at least at a different stage in revealing the "true" extent of losses. What position are UK Banks really in? The fallout in Germany from exposure to America's subprime crisis may turn out to be far bigger than previously feared. One major newspaper is putting estimated losses at a whopping 70 billion euros, while a prominent politician warns that the US recession has already arrived in Germany.

BBC: $100bn Fed move over credit fears

The US Federal Reserve will make a further $100bn (£50bn) available to major banks in April, trying to ease concerns about a global credit crunch. The sum, offered across two auctions, is in addition to $260bn provided in short-term loans to the end of March.

Posted by jack c @ 06:21 PM 8 Comments

Times: Euro hits record high against the pound

Not mentioned at all by the BBC, the Times article again has the emphasis wrong, talking about 'house price data' and 'consumer confidence' rather than the real issue being that the BoE is not following the same line as the ECB in tackling inflation.

BBC News: Dead girls rent 'Must be paid'

A County Armagh couple whose daughter died while at university in Liverpool have been told they must pay for her accommodation for the rest of the year.

BBC: Report warns of UK recession risk

Lehmnan Brothers have just noticed that global financial turmoil is increasing mortgage rates and predict that this will reduce consumer spending and have concluded that there is only a 1 in 3 chance of a UK Recession in the next 2 years.

Posted by enuii @ 04:09 PM 8 Comments

New York Times: Down $900 Million or More, the Chairman of Bear Sells

Only a year ago James E. Cayne’s stake in Bear Stearns was worth more than $1 billion. But on Thursday, Mr. Cayne, the chairman of Bear, disclosed that he had sold all of his shares in the troubled investment bank this week for just $61 million.

Posted by 51ck-6-51x @ 02:16 PM 13 Comments

Daily Mash: BANKS USE MAN-EATING TIGERS TO DETER NEW BORROWERS

"From today the Woolwich will position a pair of ravenous Bengal tigers outside its branches, while the Nationwide has rigged a boobytrap consisting of hundreds of small poisoned arrows that will be triggered by a pressure pad under the doormat."

The Times: Good Bye to Rip-Off Britain

"Brown got away with murder because he was Chancellor in the days when chimps could make money." "If, while waiting for the clampers to arrive, having paid your £100 release fee plus £60 fine plus VAT, you pop into Starbucks for a cup of coffee, you will be charged close on £2. For coffee. Think about it, because so few have."

BBC News: Shift in house prices prediction

The Nationwide has changed its prediction for property values after UK house price inflation fell to its lowest rate for 12 years

Estate agents website: The Great Dhalia Sale

In Malta one enterprising estate agent has tried to rebrand the house price crash as a sale! but hurry the sale only lasts until 30th April (seriously) Malta has a population of 400,000 people with 53,000 permanently vacant properties at the last census, many more are in development. There is no tax on owning a house.

MoneyWeek: The last optimist fights on – for now

Could last week's panic have been a capitulation, when even the most optimistic of optimists threw in the towel and stocks hit bottom? But UK and European stocks need to fall by another 25% and 15% respectively to hit average peak-to-trough falls of previous bear markets. Now throw in the fact that sentiment is nowhere near as depressed as it is at genuine market bottoms, and this hardly looks like a buying opportunity.

Bloomberg via Gold and Silver Investments: Bloomberg Video: Jim Grant on the recent actions of the Federal Reserve

Jim Grant, founder and editor of the highly respected Grants Interest Rate Observer and one of the world’s leading experts on US and international interest rates and financial markets appeared on Bloomberg’s “Taking Stock” on Tuesday, March 24. He is very bearish on bonds, calling them ‘risk without return’ and quite bullish on Gold and Silver. "Gold is a Hedge Against Depredations of Our Financial Masters and a Dollar Based Calamity; In Coming Years Stocks to Struggle and Silver is the Silver Lining."

Firstrung: Credit crunch affects small lenders appetite towards riskier mortgage lending

Over the last few weeks we have seen more changes in the mortgage market time than ever before. Denise Harvey, mortgage analyst from moneyfacts.co.uk, looks at what has been going on. It seems that there is no stopping it. Over the last two weeks, lenders have been even more ruthless in withdrawing products from the market and/or tightening their criteria. Over the last month alone we have seen the number of mortgage products available across residential and buy-to-let plunge from 7726 to 5700, a staggering drop of 2026 products.

Firstrung: UK house prices slow to lowest level since 1996 - Nationwide

House prices fell for the fifth consecutive month in March. The price of a typical house fell by 0.6% during the month, bringing the annual rate of house price growth down to 1.1% - its lowest rate since March 1996. A clear change in sentiment since the late summer has led to the sharp slowing in house price growth, even in the less volatile 3-month on 3-month series. Prices on this measure are now 1.5% lower than three months ago. The price of a typical house in the UK is now £179,110, only £2,027 more than this time last year. However, prices are still 11% higher than two years ago and 47% higher than five years ago - the equivalent of a price rise of more than £30 per day for the last five years.

Posted by converted lurker @ 10:47 AM 34 Comments

MoneyWeek: Why Bear Stearns needed to be saved

"...while we might not like the fact that the government bailed Bear Stearns out of the mess (to a certain extent), when that would never be the case with 99% of other businesses, it was an absolutely necessary step. After all, do you really think that the impact would be limited to one country or market? Not a chance. This is one case when 'laissez-faire' economics would have caused Armageddon. Without a backstop, we'd be left to the devices of people. And I don't know about you, but there are certain people whose devices I wouldn't want impacting my financial well-being!"

Firstrung: Mortgage approvals fall by 33% year on year whilst re-mortgaging frenzy appears to be over

U.K. mortgage approvals fell by a third in February from a year earlier as the higher credit costs have deterred homebuyers, according to a report by the British Bankers' Association... Banks granted 43,870 loans for house purchase, down approx. 33 percent from February 2007, the BBA, which represents the U.K.'s biggest banks, said today in a statement. Approvals for re-mortgaging rose 5.5 percent from a year earlier to 72,193.

The Mortgage Lender: Waiting for that one dumb homebuyer

There are a bunch of houses in our neighborhood that have been on the market since 2006 and the asking price hasn't budged. In some cases the price has been lowered by a tiny amount - for example, from $595,000 to $589,000 - in what seems to be a mini-capitulation for the benefit of either themselves or their real estate agent. They look ridiculously out of place now that bank foreclosures are coming onto the market priced hundreds of thousands of dollars lower.

Guardian: Auditor warns John Charcol's future as going concern is in doubt

"The country's best known mortgage broker, John Charcol, has been warned by its auditor that it faces a "material uncertainty" about its ability to keep operating "

Posted by doomwatch @ 10:22 AM 9 Comments

Daily telegraph: UK house prices drop for fifth straight month

"The building society said that the March fall represented a "sharp slowing" and dragged the quartely drop in prices - considered a less volatile gauge of the market - down to 1.5pc. As recently as October prices over three-months had grown 1.5pc, signalling how rapidly the situation has deteriorated." Can't really add to this article. Back to reality with a bump. VIs: Lets not pretend it's a surprise

Posted by growler @ 10:05 AM 13 Comments

The Telegraph: Iceland may face rating cut, warns S&P

Iceland may see its credit rating cut if the country's banks are further battered by the global credit crisis, Standard & Poor's warned yesterday.

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 09:21 AM 9 Comments

FT.com: House price growth falls to 12 year low

''...House prices fell for a fifth consecutive month in March, taking the annual rate of growth to its lowest in twelve years, a survey showed on Friday. The Nationwide Building Society said house prices fell 0.6 per cent this month, taking annual price inflation to 1.1 per cent - the weakest since March 1996. The lender, which forecast last November that house prices would remain flat over the course of 2008, is now expecting prices to fall modestly during the year...''

Posted by hpwatcher @ 08:50 AM 10 Comments

The Telegraph: Chances of full-blown UK recession risk rising

"The Bank of England may be forced to copy the Federal Reserve's lead and make dramatic interest rate cuts as Britain falls victim to a US-style slump, say experts at Lehman Brothers."

Get out of GBP and into gold. If GBP starts cutting IR then the ECB will be forced to as well as the euro surges even higher.

The Telegraph: Euro too strong, Sarkozy tells the City

The French President, who arrived in the UK for a state visit on Wednesday, also used his speech at the Guildhall to praise Britain's economic model, saying France would do well to emulate it.

He is right. The French couldn't emulate our boom. They won't have a chance at emulating our bust.

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 08:46 AM 8 Comments

The Telegraph: UK house prices drop for fifth straight month

House prices fell by 0.6pc in March, the fifth consecutive monthly fall, according to Britain's biggest mortgage lender Nationwide.

BBC: Further slowdown in house prices

The Nationwide said house prices had now fallen for five months in a row and predicted prices would fall further. Nationwide chief economist Fionnuala Earley admitted that this was a change to its earlier forecast that there would be no overall change in prices by the end of this year. "A clear change in sentiment since the late summer has led to the sharp slowing in house price growth, prices are now 1.5% lower than three months ago," she said.

Posted by yoyo1 @ 07:48 AM 20 Comments

Times: Nationwide and Halifax put up mortgage rate to deter new customers

Two of the biggest mortgage lenders increased their rates sharply yesterday in an attempt to close the door to all but the most creditworthy customers. The move could lead to tens of thousands of borrowers struggling to get any mortgage deal at all. Within hours of Nationwide’s announcement, Norwich & Peterborough Building Society said that it was increasing its rates by up to half a percentage point. The move came as Britain’s best-known mortgage broker, John Charcol, was warned by its auditor that it faced a “material uncertainty” about its ability to keep operating after its investors put in an extra £1.5 million and deferred loans of £820,000. The auditors highlighted concerns that liabilities exceeded assets by £532,000. AHA HHAHAHAHHA HHAHAHAHH

Posted by confused76 @ 01:51 AM 22 Comments

FT.com: Jump in rice price fuels fears of unrest

I wonder if we will get more "What me gov?" , 'No. I am confused by it myself" comments about certain commodity prices from the central banks.

Bloomberg: Video Jim Grant on Fed actions

Excellent interview. The desperate actions of the Fed accepting mortgage paper as collateral, when the US is not even in depression yet. The dollar is now a very risky asset because of this, especially if house prices keep falling. He calls the destruction of the dollars value an injustice to savers.

The Daily Mash: WHAT'S A BANK? ASKS FSA

The regulator said it bought a copy of the Oxford Dictionary of Finance and Banking off Amazon last summer after reading about the problems at Northern Rock, but was still on the introduction.

daily fx: According to an article in the UK Times, Nationwide, the country’s second largest mortgage lender is planning to turn away business. We wonder why a mortgage lender would resort to this unless trouble was brewing in house

According to an article in the UK Times, Nationwide, the country’s second largest mortgage lender is planning to turn away business. We wonder why a mortgage lender would resort to this unless trouble was brewing in house. The Times argues that Nationwide is attempting to gain greater control over the amount that it lends and is doing so by increasing the rates on its tracker deals by more than 50bp. Efforts such as these are exactly why central banks including the UK and the US are struggling to contain the credit crisis.

Posted by chris @ 10:31 PM 10 Comments

Property People Magazine: Spread betting on house prices

Spreadfair clients were predicting that the average UK house price would decrease by the end of 2008, but in the last month they see the average UK house price to be three per cent higher by that date than their estimate two months ago.

Posted by titaniccaptain @ 09:31 PM 9 Comments

LandlordExpert: PM, Thurs 27th March - UK house prices rise again in March according to Rightmove

House prices have risen for the second month running in March as sellers pushed for near record high prices, despite increased competition from other unsold properties and tighter credit conditions, according to a key property survey.

Posted by titaniccaptain @ 08:09 PM 25 Comments

CNN: Glenn Beck The 53 Trillion Asteroid

Artical on what is the real USA state of affairs, it ain't good reading or news either.

Mortgagestrategy: Fitch downgrades Alliance & Leicester

Fitch Ratings has downgraded Alliance & Leicester, saying the action reflects the lender’s weak access to funding compared with higher rated banks. A&L’s long term issuer default rating was cut to A+ from AA- and the short term IDR to F1 from F1+.

BBC: Job cuts shake Wall Street nerves

The bull’s balls look very shiny indeed I am sure many folk on the street think all this Banking malarkey is far removed from their little bubble (oops Freudian slip) they live in. We on HPC know that we are all indirectly going to feel the pain of banks mismanaging their businesses. This proves that people on the street are being laid off and business, cafes, shops and street vendors are feeling the pain. 5000 laid of already in Wall Street and this is coming to a financial sector near you!!

Mortgage Solutions: Nottingham to withdraw product range

The Nottingham is to withdraw its current product range from the market to be replaced by a new portfolio of residential and buy-to let mortgage products on Friday.

CNN: Diesel: The truck stops here

The kid who delivers your pizza may be charging you an extra buck for gas, but for the guy that trucked the tomatoes, hauled the dough or milked the cows, passing along the fuel increase isn't as easy as pie. From truckers and farmers to loggers, construction workers and fishermen, skyrocketing diesel prices are pushing what many consider the backbone of the American economy right up to the breaking point. It is the same in the UK now...

FT.com: S Korea pension fund shuns US debt

The world’s fifth-largest pension fund will no longer buy US Treasuries because yields are too low. The move signals what could be a big shift by financial institutions away from US government debt into higher-yielding assets. South Korea’s National Pension Service, which has $220bn in assets, said on Wednesday it wanted to broaden its range of overseas investments. Central banks from 16 Asian countries said last weekend at a meeting in Jakarta that they might invest more of their $1,000bn of official reserves in one another’s sovereign bonds instead of US Treasuries, given the dollar’s volatility. “[The Korean decision] is symptomatic of the times and the problems that the US is facing,” said David Cohen, head of Asian economic forecasting at Action Economics in Singapore.

BBC News: LIBOR ouch!

Three-month sterling LIBOR, the interest rate off which our mortgages and most other loans are priced, has risen to 6%, its highest level since December 28. It shows that banks are still hoarding cash, still refusing to lend to each other, because of their concern that money is perilously tight for all banks.

Times: Nationwide shuts door on mortgage hunters

Good news for those with resets coming up ... "Nationwide, the UK's largest mortgage lender after Halifax, said today it wanted to turn away business to take greater control over the amount it lends"

Posted by doomwatch @ 01:48 PM 46 Comments

Safe Haven: Doug Casey: "Gold is Going to the Moon"

Just to reach its previous high in purchasing power, gold will have to go over $2,500 - probably more like $3,000 after you discount the phoniness in the government's CPI numbers. But because this crisis is much more serious than the one in the late 1970s and early '80s and much more far-ranging, $3,000 is actually a fairly conservative number. I'll say it again: gold is not just going through the roof, it's going to the moon.

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 01:33 PM 6 Comments

FT Alphaville: When is food not food?

Nice picture of how much processed food we eat compared to the developing world.

Safe Haven: No Tears for Gold

"Let's face reality: moves by the Fed and GSEs to take bad debt off banks' balance sheets don't improve the quality of the underlying assets. Losses will eventually become the responsibility of taxpayers -- yet another burden for all of us to carry."

"Are we hearing the sounds of more money creation? The eventual sound of the dollar slipping yet further vs. gold and commodities? That's what I hear, despite the earplugs the Fed and the stock market seem to be wearing."

sales@property-abroad.com: Newsletter as emailed

Further to the article on the Spanish property market, Property-Abroad have kindly provided proof of what its really like in the market place for new builds. Remember the TV ads?!

New York Times: Be It Ever So Illogical: Homeowners Who Won’t Cut the Price

In 2005, Randolph Harrison and his wife, Pamela, decided to move north from Silicon Valley, over the Golden Gate Bridge into wooded Marin County to be closer to her new job. They found a six-bedroom house that seemed ideal except for the price, $1.875 million. The current owner, they knew, had bought the house a year earlier for $1.475 million. Skip to next paragraph Multimedia Home Prices and SalesGraphic Home Prices and Sales So the couple, who both have finance jobs in the technology industry, told their real estate agent that they wanted to offer $1.575 million. He told them that the owner wouldn’t even listen to such a low bid. The owner’s attitude was “we’ll just stay here until we sell it for 1.875,” the agent said, “even if it takes years.”

Market Oracle: Unwinding of the "Yen Carry Trade" is Bearish for Global Stock Markets

Global equity traders had, for many years, a ready source of funds at almost no interest charge. Traders have been shorting the Yen and using the funds to purchase stocks, currencies and high-yielding securities around the world. However, as of mid-2007, that "free bank account" is becoming more and more costly. The Yen carry trade is starting to unwind with very negative results for stocks.

Financial Sense Editorials: THE WORLD IS DELEVERAGING

Easy money has disappeared worldwide. This event favors certain classes of investments globally, and penalizes others. FOR THE NEXT SEVERAL YEARS: AVOID LEVERAGED ASSET CLASSES 1. Financial stocks, including stock brokers, banks, mortgage lenders, insurance companies, and real estate

reuters financial: Goldman sees credit losses totaling $1.2 trillion

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Goldman Sachs forecasts global credit losses stemming from the current market turmoil will reach $1.2 trillion, with Wall Street accounting for nearly 40 percent of the losses. Of the cumulative losses expected by these leveraged players, bad residential home loans will represent about half, while poor-performing commercial mortgages will represent 15 percent to 20 percent.

BBC "News": Oil above $107 on pipeline attack

A few years ago, to think that oil at $100+ a barrel would not affect inflation would have been labeled idiotic. Nowadays, UK inflation statistics seem impervious to rising commodity prices.

Independent: New home loans down by a third

The number of mortgages approved for people buying a home has dived by more than a third during the past year, figures showed today.

Bloomberg: U.S. Economy Probably Expanded at Slower Pace in Fourth Quarter

- The deepening housing slump brought U.S. growth to a near standstill in the fourth quarter and has now probably tipped the world's biggest economy into a recession, economists said ahead of a government report today. - Gross domestic product advanced at a 0.6 percent annual rate in the last three months of 2007, matching the weakest pace in five years, according to the median projection of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News.

MoneyWeek: Is gold’s bull run over for now?

The severity in last week's smackdown in the precious metals market took many by surprise. Should we expect more violent moves to the downside? MoneyWeek's Dominic Frisby thinks it's oversold - and the technical set up now looks rather good...

Independent: Spain's property market suffers meltdown

"Spain's once-booming property market is in freefall, official statistics have revealed for the first time. The announcement that house sales had plunged has dashed government hopes for a "soft landing" in the sector that has driven the Spanish economy for more than a decade".

Posted by alan @ 11:19 AM 10 Comments

FT.com: Kingfisher slashes dividend to conserve cash

Its called having to cut costs and make difficult decisions (such as laying off staff , reducing dividends & bonuses and keeping as tight as possible on fixed infrastructure) in order to survive.

BBC: Mortgage approvals still slumping

Bank mortgage lending to people who are moving home is still down by a third on the same time a year ago, said the British Bankers Association (BBA). The figures confirm the continuing slump in the property market. Banks lent 43,870 mortgages to home movers in February, slightly more than in January, but 33% down on last year. People who do not move, but change their mortgages to more favourable deals, now account for nearly half of all new mortgages granted by banks.

Daily Mash: Buy-to-let investors age 1000 years in four seconds

THOUSANDS of buy-to-let investors are ageing 1,000 years in around four seconds after receiving the latest valuations of their rented properties.

The Telegraph: Iceland contagion may spread far and wide

"There's now a risk of psychological contagion from Iceland. People are starting to look more closely at all these countries. The deficits were easy to fund in times of abundant liquidity, but we think the global credit crunch is going to make it a lot harder," he said. "The history of financial crises suggests that it can be dangerous to think 'it's different this time'."

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 08:44 AM 24 Comments

Bloomberg: Kingfisher Says Annual Profit Slid 20%, Cuts Dividend

"Kingfisher Plc, the U.K.'s largest home-improvement retailer, said full-year profit dropped 20 percent and cut its dividend as a slumping housing market caused Britons to spend less money redecorating. B&Q, the largest U.K. home improvement chain, have fallen for three straight quarters as consumers rein in spending".

BBC NEWS: Barclays' executive is paid £21m

The boss of Barclays' investment banking division, Bob Diamond, took home more than £21m ($42m) in pay and bonuses last year, the firm has said.

Posted by titaniccaptain @ 07:36 AM 19 Comments

Daily Express: More misery looming for homeowners

HOME owners were warned of more mortgage rate misery ahead by the boss of the Bank of England yesterday. Governor Mervyn King feared lenders will continue to refuse to pass on interest rate cuts to borrowers. At the same time, he dropped a big hint that the Bank base rate could be cut again by 0.25 per cent next month. But he admitted mortgage holders were unlikely to see their repayments slashed with banks desperate to recoup cash in the “credit crunch.” It means homeowners cannot expect any respite amid crippling rises in the cost of living and taxation. And they were warned that house prices are unlikely to rise significantly “for years.” Meanwhile LIBOR rose to 6%, the highest since December.

Posted by little professor @ 07:27 AM 9 Comments

Guardian: Dirty dealing in HBOS? - the numbers say no

Allegations that speculators had spread malicious rumours to drive down the price of HBOS shares last week do not appear to be supported by the latest figures from Data Explorers, a research firm that monitors short selling. As data emerged yesterday on HBOS stock lending, which is linked to short selling, market professionals said the figures showed little sign of substantially heightened shorting activity....

Bloomberg: New Century Bankruptcy Examiner Says KPMG Aided Fraud

New Century Financial Corp.'s bankrupt estate might have cause to sue its former accountant KPMG LLP and some directors and officers for improper accounting leading up to its bankruptcy, a court examiner said in a report. New Century ``engaged in a number of significant improper and imprudent practices related to its loan originations, operations, accounting and financial reporting processes,'' Missal wrote in the report. He said ``KPMG contributed to certain of these accounting and financial reporting deficiencies by enabling them to persist'' and in some cases ``precipitating'' a departure from ``applicable accounting standards.'' ``This is really the embryo of the credit crisis,'' Missal said today in a phone interview.

Torygraph: BoE 'losing the battle' as UK economy slows

What the article omits is that base rate cuts have weakened Sterling thus pushing up inflation, so household incomes are even more squeezed than they would have been had rates been left on hold. He also 'warned that house prices would not rise at all over the next few years', a reality shock for many no doubt.

Posted by fed up @ 09:29 PM 20 Comments

M&G investments: Warning over 'UK house price crash'

It has been claimed that the UK's economy could be heading for a sharp consumer slowdown similar to that seen in the United States if house prices continue to fall. According to Capital Economics, the similarities between UK and US consumers are "disturbing", with the UK consumer sector suffering from the same build up of imbalances as in the US. The group added that a key driver of the slump in the US had been falling house prices, which are now being seen in the UK too. And it said that people in the UK are more indebted than those in the US, with total household debt now standing at the equivalent of 175% of household disposable income, compared with only 128% for Americans.................. Bit of a cosmetic ending.

Evening Standard: King hints at April cut

Economists said King's dovish comments suggest he could vote for a rate cut as early as April after resisting such calls this month. The Bank has already reduced rates from 5.75% to 5.25% since December.

Times: Paulson warns US house prices must plunge

The US Treasury Secretary gave warning today that there is more pain ahead in the American housing market after he said prices must be allowed to drop before the economy can stabilise. House price investors won't want to hear it, but it's going to happen here.

Market Watch: Bond insurer FGIC falls below key regulatory capital level

CHICAGO (MarketWatch) -- After setting aside just over $800 million to pay expected subprime mortgage-related losses, troubled bond insurer FGIC Corp. says it has fallen below legally required statutory capital levels, which means it must come up with a plan to raise money or face stringent consequences, the company said Wednesday.

CNN: Citigroup To Post Deeper Than Expected 1Q Loss

"Oppenheimer & Co. tripled its loss estimate for Citigroup Inc.'s (C) first quarter Wednesday, forecasting the bank could write down another $13 billion. And with no end in sight for the credit crisis, Oppenheimer's outlook for the largest U.S. bank by assets remains grim". In addition to Citigroup, Oppenheimer's Whitney predicts $4.3 billion in write-downs for Bank of America Corp., $2.8 billion for JPMorgan and $1.5 billion for Wachovia Corp.

hereisthecity.com: Under Pressure - Another Top Firm In The Spotlight

It was Merrill Lynch's turn in the spotlight Tuesday, as analysts revised their views on the firm's immediate prospects. Merrill's shares closed 1.1% down, after Fox-Pitt Kelton analyst David Drone said that the firm is likely to post a first quarter loss, and may end up writing down another $8bn in assets. There are, however, no liquidity concerns. In the meantime, JPMorgan analysts lowered Merrill's earnings estimates 45%, predicting write-downs of some $5.1bn. UBS analysts are now also predicting that Merrill will post in loss in the first quarter. And Trader Daily reports that Merrill is about to commence laying off between 10 - 15% of staff in its investment banking unit....

BBC online: Credit crunch 'at $1.2 trillion'

The credit crunch will globally cost $1.2 trillion (£600bn) according to a report from the bank Goldman Sachs. The report says 40%, or $480bn, of those losses will hit US banks, brokerages and other institutions. Goldman estimates that US financial firms have already reported losses of $120bn since the credit crunch began. So where is the remaining 90%? Panic not over till it's over!!

Daily Mash: HEDGE FUNDS NOW MOST IMPORTANT THING PEOPLE KNOW NOTHING ABOUT

As a massive American hedge fund faces imminent collapse, millions of people across the globe have found themselves panicking without the faintest idea why.

Posted by planning4acrash @ 02:15 PM 6 Comments

goldpricecrash: Should you put your money into gold? You’d be a fool to do so. Here’s why…

It was no coincidence that the US dollar, already plummeting in value against the euro has plunged to a 12 year low against the Yen recently. One thing we can always be sure of in these uncertain times is a falling dollar means the price of gold rises.

Guardian: US has not felt this bad since Watergate

Consumer confidence worse than the 1970s. House prices follow suit.

MoneyWeek: Why you should ignore gold price fluctuations

The price of crude oil in terms of gold hardly changed last week, but in terms of dollars both commodities fluctuated wildly. So stick with the metal rather than volatile paper money.

Bloomberg: Orders for Durable Goods in U.S. Unexpectedly Fell in February

Orders for U.S. durable goods unexpectedly fell in February, led by the biggest slump ever in demand for machinery that indicates companies are becoming more reluctant to invest as the economy heads into a recession.

NYT: Be It Ever So Illogical: Homeowners Who Won’t Cut the Price

Three years ago, when the real estate bubble was still inflating, this sort of standoff was the exception. It’s the norm today. Overall home sales have fallen a remarkable 33 percent since the summer of 2005. Home prices, on the other hand, continued to rise until 2006 and are now only 5 to 10 percent below where they were in mid-2005, according to various measures.

Myspace News and Politics: Reading the Numbers

We all know Granite is a Northern Rock floating in the English Channel but how about Whinstone or should it be Win Stone. An in depth expose of some not so familiar NR crash background and banking generally by Simon Davies. Helpful on FSA' s open day. Also check Seth's background if you have time, you may be surprised. cybervigilantes your post Feb 28th deserved more attention, hope this works.

Posted by malct @ 11:48 AM 28 Comments

BBC News: King pledges further market help

Mr King also predicted that house prices would be "broadly stable" over the next few years, which he welcomed. But... He said that a slowdown in the housing market would eventually make houses more affordable for first-time buyers, as the ratio of wages to house prices returned to more normal levels.

Mortgage Brokers Association: Application Survey

There seems to be some evidence recently that the housing market is on point of turning round in America

MoneyWeek: Don’t be fooled by the bounce – this crisis is far from over

Is it safe to go back in the markets now? Investors seem to think so, if yesterday's triple-digit gains are anything to go by. But we've got some way to go before we hit the bottom of this market, says John Stepek.

IT job board: Senior Java Developer - Derivatives platform, Investment Bank, London

I really love the part of the advert where they say, "Credit derivatives are a fast growing trillion market and have utterly revolutionised credit markets.". Yeah, like single handedly bringing down the entire world economy! Do these guys really still see themselves as "innovators"? Unbelievable. One job I won't be applying for!

Citywire: Schroders' Michele expects European interest rates to be slashed

Schroders’ bond fund manager Bob Michele has predicted rates in Europe will be slashed soon to aid the region's banks, which he says are in ‘horrible shape.’ Michele, who runs the top-performing Schroder Strategic Bond fund, said although the European Central Bank (ECB) had so far held rates at 4%, it would be forced to cut them as the economic situation in the region continues to deteriorate. He said: ‘Banks at present need capital formation, and although inflation is a concern, the reality is European banks are in horrible shape.

Posted by jack c @ 10:53 AM 11 Comments

Citywire: Bellway predicts even tougher times for first time house buyers

First time buyers are going to find it even harder to get on to the property ladder in the growing liquidity crisis warns housebuilder Bellway. Banks and building societies demands for larger deposits and changes to lending criteria means the housing ladder is being pulled out of the grasp of first time buyers, Bellway said in its interim results.

Reuters: Bank's King says credit crunch now in new phase

The credit crunch has entered a new and difficult phase but policymakers in Britain still have to balance slowing growth versus rising inflation, Bank of England Governor Mervyn King said on Wednesday.

Posted by alan @ 10:33 AM 15 Comments

Experian Global Press Office: Experian releases UK debt figures

Ordinary folks seem to be aware they are in too much debt and have been tightening their belts for a while. I wouldn't be surprised if first time buyers actually hit zero at some point.

Telegraph: Sainsbury strikes £1.2bn deal with British Land

These are not supermarkets they are empires that control everything from the food on your table, the furniture in your home and garden, the fuel in your car, your bank account and now the land that you stand on. Maybe they even control interest rates so you can keep on shopping.

FT: UK backlash over mortgage fraud probe

"Another problem, according to industry insiders, is how to distinguish between sharp practice and criminality in an overheated market." No sh1t Sherlock.

Telegraph: When the going gets tough, banks yelp for nanny

Remarkable, isn't it, just how quickly champions of laissez-faire solutions can become advocates for state intervention. All it takes is for their gravy-train to break down.

Fool.co.uk: Half of Home Loans are History

I have grim news for homeowners and those looking to leap onto the property ladder. The worldwide credit crunch which began last summer has made banks very nervous and wary. Banks are no longer willing to lend to anyone with a pulse or anyone who can fill in a mortgage application, at least.

The Telegraph: FSA admits string of errors over Northern Rock

The Financial Services Authority, the City watchdog, has admitted to a catalogue of errors in its handling of the Northern Rock crisis, which saw the first run on a British bank in more than a century.

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 09:04 AM 6 Comments

Daily Mirror: Goodbye to Good Buys

The housing market is changing. The rungs on the property ladder are snapping because lenders themselves are also suffering from the credit crunch. Prices are likely to stagnate in 2008 and with mortgages more difficult to come by, renting could be a good option. The good thing about renting, according to ARLA, is that you have flexibility. Bills are also cheaper in rented accommodation, as you typically have no buildings insurance to pay and the landlord must pay the cost of any wear-and-tear maintenance. The rent you pay could also be less than the mortgage payments on an equivalent flat.

Citywire: Housing experts predict 20% price falls this year

House prices in the UK are expected to fall between 10% and 20% over the next year, according to a poll of delegates at the recent Great Housing Market Debate conference. Of the 150 lenders, estate agents, economists, brokers and property investors at the London event, just one, Assetz director Stuart Law, said he expected to see price increases in 2007. 'The dire shortage of housing stock in the UK will spike up rents and keep prices afloat,’ said Law. ‘This lack of confidence within the industry is a clear indication that we have hit rock bottom and things are set to improve.

Posted by little professor @ 08:39 AM 16 Comments

Telegraph: Home owners choose expensive 10-year mortgages 'for protection'

Capital Home Loans withdrew its two, three and five-year fixed-rate deals; Chelsea Building Society pulled all of its deals, saying it will "reprice" them later this week; Intelligent Finance withdrew some fixed-rate deals and Abbey increased rates on several mortgages. According to MoneyFacts, the personal finance website, the number of mortgages on the market has fallen by two-thirds since July last year.

BBC News: FSA 'failed' in Rock supervision

The UK financial watchdog, the Financial Services Authority, has admitted that it failed to adequately regulate Northern Rock.

BBC: Cash boost call for empty homes

Council's should be given more money to implement Empty Dwelling Management Orders. If you know of a buy to let that has been empty for 6 months are more, shop it to your Council.

ABC news: Australia facing homelessness avalanche: Vinnies

leading figure at the St Vincent de Paul Society says homelessness is the worst he has seen it in his 42 years with the charity

Telegraph: HBOS directors profit as shares bounce back

HBOS led a rally in the banking sector this morning after its shares soared as much as 17pc, helped by the news that its chief executive Andy Hornby had spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on shares in the high street lender in the days surrounding last week's share price plunge...........ok ok ok yeah yeah yeah. 1. So Rumour starts about bank and shares devalue. 2. Chief executive Andy Hornby buys shares in bank. 3. Chief executive Andy Hornby goes to bank of england to get more money to save bank and push shares prices back up 4. Chief executive Andy Hornby is hailed as valiant saviour of HBOS as shares increase and he makes a packet.....Wonder how long he is going to hang onto those shares.Call me paranoid jealous even but to me its about as difficult as a scooby doo plot to work out

Posted by titaniccaptain @ 09:06 PM 25 Comments

Times: Sharp practice?

It is one of Britain’s highest-profile and most successful estate agents. But Foxtons is facing allegations from disgruntled clients

Mail on Sunday: Agents of fortune

... and has anything been done since 2002 ?

The Sun: Broke mum's debt clearance

A MUM’S plan to clear her debts and make money by doing up and selling a house has ended in disaster. Wendy Black is now £32,000 in the red and has been threatened with bankruptcy. The full-time student,who has daughters aged 17 and 19, thought improvements to her four-bedroom property would cost around £30,000 — but the final bill soared to £60,000. Wendy, 44, funded most of the project with SIX credit cards. She owes the Halifax £9,500, Citicard £5,000, American Express £3,500, Tesco £5,000, M&S £4,500 and Barclaycard £5,000.

ThisIsMoney: Property market slumps to 20-year low

"Estate agents today called a 'buyer's market' as the number of potential purchasers fell to the lowest level for almost 20 years. The difference between asking and selling prices rose in February to 4.5%. The NAEA said the widening gap highlights the need for homeowners to set realistic prices to ensure properties do not stay on the market any longer than necessary" Funny how the music has changed. Unemployed EAs are now on the side of the buyers? Late realization that it is the buyer (eventually) that pays the EA fee!! No buyer = no fee, AHAH A HHAHHAHHA HA

Posted by confused76 @ 06:47 PM 8 Comments

FunctionPix: UK Property prices must drop 10 - 15% now to avoid a 50% crash later - RICS

The UK residential property sector is facing it’s toughest dilemma for more than 40 years according to a RICS specialist. Data from property portal ‘Rightmove’ backs up the speculation that the UK will see a price crash of up to 50% in the coming 12-18 months unless drastic steps are taken now.

Telegraph: HMRC targets undeclared buy-to-let income

Onshore, nearshore, offshore, inpat, expat? Who cares? Just report your landlord to HRMC today! https://www.taxevasionhotline.co.uk/

Bloomberg: Bank of China 2nd-Half Profit Growth Curbed by Subprime Loss

Bank of China Ltd. posted the smallest second-half profit gain among the nation's 14 publicly traded lenders after writing down $1.3 billion of subprime mortgage investments.

Citywire: Derek Stuart warns more trouble ahead for banks

Stuart said that following the implosion of Bear Stearns there is a likelihood - and even a need - for more banks to go out of business. ‘Some of these banks need to go bust’ he said. He said fund managers should continue to avoid the banking sector because there is still insufficient transparency about banks' business models. Stuart has been a long-term bear on the banking sector since the launch of his £1 billion UK Special Situations fund. The credit crunch and ongoing liquidity crisis has however crystallised his uncertainties.

Times Online: US confidence and house prices stage record falls

The downturn in the US housing market is spreading across the country, with 19 of the leading 20 American cities tracked by the S&P/Case-Shiller home-price index reporting a 10.7 per cent decline in the price of homes.

BBC "News": US consumer sentiment down again

US consumer confidence has fallen to a five-year low, according to the closely watched Conference Board report.

Moneymarketing: Landlords' gearing at lowest level since May 2005

The average gearing across landlords’ portfolios is at its lowest level since May 2005, according to Paragon. A panel survey of 200 Landlords revealed the average level of borrowing across their portfolios was 36 per cent, down from 38 per cent in the final quarter of 2007. Paragon says that rents are rising rapidly and landlords who are lowly geared are well positioned to expand their portfolios over 2008 as demand rises. In a softer housing market, landlords will be able to make opportunistic purchases of further properties.

Posted by jack c @ 02:12 PM 12 Comments

Yahoo News!: Cities grapple with surge in abandoned homes

WORCESTER, Massachusetts (Reuters) - On Lagrange Street in New England's second-largest city, two brick apartment buildings stand side-by-side in varying stages of decay -- boarded up, "No Trespassing" signs affixed, paint peeling. Across the street, a condominium complex is on the brink. Three of its eight apartments are in foreclosure. Like many cities in the United States where the home vacancy rate has scaled its highest since records began in 1956, the former textile mill city of Worcester in Massachusetts is turning to the courts to fight back.

MSN News: House-buyer numbers drop to record low

The number of house-buyers on estate agents' books dropped 12 percent last month -- to 243 per agent from 276 in January -- according to the National Association of Estate Agents (NAEA). At the same time the gap between asking prices and what properties actually sold for continued to widen to stand at 4.5 percent. The number of homes on the market during February declined almost 11 percent to an average of 74 per estate agent as potential sellers awaited more favourable market conditions. Each agent made an average of eight sales during the month, the same as the previous month, but down from 13 a year ago.

FT.com: Iceland unexpectedly raises rates to 15%

Iceland’s central bank accelerated its effort to combat inflation on Tuesday by raising the main lending rate by 1.25 percentage points to 15 per cent. The Icelandic krona soared by more than 4 per cent against the euro after the unscheduled move by the Central Bank of Iceland.
Mine's another 0.50% cut Mervin. Who needs a strong pound and low inflation anyway?

Posted by lvmreader @ 01:05 PM 13 Comments

MarketWatch: Bove says financial crisis over, buy banks

"The actions taken by the Federal Reserve were innovative, dramatic and, in my view, brilliant because they went right to the problem," Bove wrote in a note to clients. "The actions being taken by the Federal Reserve are being mirrored by the Treasury, which now has finally grasped the scope of the problem.... Bove's advice stands in contrast to that of strategists at Citigroup Inc. who advised clients Wednesday to avoid leveraged financial-services company stocks because the "Great Unwind" has begun." I personally don't think it is over yet but Citigroup usually get it wrong!

Posted by happyrenterz @ 12:52 PM 8 Comments

Bloomberg: Euro Money-Market Rates Advance to Highest This Year

The cost of borrowing in euros on money markets rose to the highest level this year, a sign that attempts by policy makers to revive lending are failing to stop banks hoarding cash. The euro interbank offered rate, or Euribor, for three- month cash increased 3 basis points to 4.70 percent, the highest level since Dec. 27 and its 14th straight gain, the European Banking Federation said today. The one-week rate rose 4 basis points to 4.32 percent, also the highest since Dec. 27. ``There's really only a handful of banks that are offering cash,'' said Ronald Tharun, a money-market trader at LRP Landesbank Rheinland-Pfalz in Mainz, Germany. ``Everyone is just waiting for the next bank to go down. There is no trust in the market. They're very afraid.''

Firstrung: Nottingham named as burglary capital of Britain

Nottingham has been named in a survey as the riskiest place in the UK for household burglaries. Nottingham had home theft levels 63% above the national average, based on the study of tens of thousands of claims handled by the insurance firm Endsleigh. The city was followed by London, Bristol, Stockport and Leeds, while Guildford was found to be the safest.

Firstrung: UK house prices rise by 0.8% (£1,799) as new sellers ignore market reality - Rightmove

Despite the fact that asking prices are up, Miles Shipside at RM makes some very good points in relation to seller expectations. However, where is the market gridlock so many expected to emerge by now? The time on market is actually reducing

Money Week: Why the US rate cut is good news for gold

Moneyweek still bullish on gold (although it has corrected more since the article was written)

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 12:24 PM 6 Comments

Market Oracle: BBC Shows Re-runs of Old Property Shows From the Housing Boom

The property porn orgy is long since finished. However like an over-amorous miniskirted middle aged spinster at reluctant swingers' party, Aunty Beeb is still shamelessly gyrating on the table in the middle of the room, telling the few left to "loosen up!" and hollering "let's keep the love going ...".

This is the end of the road for the BBC property pornographers. Like those cashiers in the Halifax ads, the BBC scheduling editors have no shame and no dignity any more.

Guardian: Does anybody know what went wrong?

"In the past few months things have been going steadily downhill, but the government covered it up. Now everyone knows what's happening, and there's worse to come."

Market Oracle: Gold Dramatic Correction Back into Buying Territory

Gold is back in buying territory after its dramatic correction back to key intermediate trendline support

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 10:59 AM 12 Comments

MoneyWeek: Who's really to blame for the financial crisis?

"...banks created an environment in which it was all too easy to overstretch yourself – and if you stayed on the sidelines and saved, you looked like an idiot, and a whole lot poorer than your property-rich compatriots... But who was behind the banks? The truth is that this whole thing comes back to central banks. The world’s key interest rates were set too low for too long..."

The Telegraph: Fed's rescue halted a derivatives Chernobyl

"There was the risk of a total meltdown at the beginning of last week. I don't think most people have any idea how bad this chain could have been, and I am still not sure the Fed can maintain the solvency of the US banking system."

NewsBiscuit: Global 'credit crunch’ blamed for neighbour’s refusal to lend lawnmower

A Norfolk man has blamed the global credit crunch and sub-prime debacle as justification for refusing to lend his lawnmower to his 84 year old neighbour. Council worker, Derek Sharp, 48, said he ‘wasn’t prepared to compromise his assets’ during what he described as ‘this period of uncertainty and turbulence.’

BBC: Perils of the Property Ladder

Homeowners face tough decisions on upgrading or relocating amid unpredictable economic conditions. Straight off the BBC web site. Starts off with a dig against Property Ladder etc :-)

Daily Mail: The REAL cost of inflation: Why family bills 'have gone up by £1,400 in one year'

Inflation is at least 6.1% (Capital Economics) as the government CPI figure is proven to be misleading. Even government spokesperson does not defent published figure. If inflation is too high, interest rates are too low, explaining why house prices inflation is out of control over the last 7 years.

City A.M.: City faces loss of 30,000 jobs in a year of bloodletting

Another demand domino keels over.

Posted by doomwatch @ 09:44 AM 10 Comments

Telegraph: UK house prices will escape America's crash

''...But - I repeat - there is a world of difference between a lower rate of growth and a 30 per cent drop in house prices themselves. And while headline writers often miss this, a fall in the rate of growth is what we're now seeing....''

Posted by hpwatcher @ 08:40 AM 10 Comments

The Guardian: How boom quickly converted to bust

With its double-height living room and views across the Pennines and Manchester's city centre, the two-bedroom apartment in a converted Victorian biscuit factory must have seemed fairly priced to Christopher Williams at £236,500. Now, three years on, Williams's outlay for a slice of the city-living dream looks ridiculous. His flat has been repossessed and will go under the auctioneer's hammer tomorrow with a guide price of £100,000... Knight Frank estate agents estimates there has been a 15%-20% "correction" in Manchester house prices in the last six months.

heraldsun: Macquarie Fortress has gone sour already and it's not unreasonable to think that other bigger pieces associated with the group can unravel.

"Just because people are in a higher likelihood of an event doesn't mean it is going to happen," the fund manager said. "ButBenchmark credit-default swap indexes in Asia rose to record levels last week as speculators bet that other financial institutions were likely to come under stress. According to Bloomberg, the cost of buying protection on Macquarie senior debt is higher than for US banks such as Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo and Bank of America. It is also more expensive than for most leading European banks such as Allied Irish Banks, Bank of Ireland, Royal Bank of Scotland and UBS.

times: And now the human cost as workers brace for redundancies

Andrew Burrell, an economist at Experian, said: “This is different to the dotcom crash – the downturn was in a sector not an industry. This is a more deep-rooted, fundamental crisis. Northern Rock seemed like a one-off but [the problem] is more systemic.”

FT.com: Money market funds face new pressure

Dreyfus and Evergreen, two big money market fund managers, both confirmed that they had waived fees on their funds. Susan Breakefield Fulton, who advises more than $425m in client money, said: “We’ve been paranoid since December. We had 15-20 per cent of clients’ money in money market funds and took it all out then moved it into Treasuries . . . the current market is so untransparent, there were risks there that we didn’t know about

BBC: 15mph speed limit for eco-towns

Caroline Flint stated that; "We have a unique opportunity to deliver a programme which will genuinely revolutionise the way people live"; ideal for a failing economy then!

Posted by enuii @ 11:43 PM 7 Comments

BBC News: Cameron attacks big price rises

Tory leader David Cameron said the prices of staples such as bread, butter and eggs had increased by 28-37% since Gordon Brown became prime minister.

Posted by crash bandicoot @ 10:43 PM 11 Comments

Idependent: Rise of the gazunderers

Boo hoo. The regulation in England is a sham, so gazunderers are onto a winner.

Posted by doomwatch @ 09:03 PM 10 Comments

Reuters: Property sellers need "reality check"

LONDON (Reuters) - Sellers need a "reality check" when pricing their homes for sale, as unsold stock reaches record proportions, Britain's largest property portal Rightmove.co.uk said on Monday.

Mirror.co.uk: Gordon Brown's £300bn banking debt fear

Banks worldwide could be as much as £295billion in debt, Gordon Brown will warn this week. In a joint meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, the Prime Minister will admit they are getting "increasingly concerned" about the world economy. And the pair will say the black hole of debt, causing the potentially explosive credit crunch, could be far worse than expected. It means more banks will be plunged into difficulty because they cannot get money to keep afloat. Savings could be threatened. Businesses and families will also find it more difficult to get loans and mortgages. And it will mean firms closing, unemployment rising and property prices falling.

Posted by plato @ 08:11 PM 28 Comments

FT.com: FTSE exit signals tougher time for builders

One year ago, four of the UK’s largest 100 companies were housebuilders. When the reviewed FTSE 100 comes into effect on Wednesday, only Persimmon will remain after Taylor Wimpey gets relegated to the mid-cap index.

New York Times: In Speech, Clinton Calls for Action on Housing Crisis

Insubtantial electioneering suggestion to put $30billion into mortgage subsidies. Hopefully NuLab MP's are enjoying a well earned break at their holiday homes so won't see this and get any more silly big ideas.

Sky News: DIY Landlords Plan To Do Repairs

Prospective landlords are planning to take a more hands-on approach to their investments, with a majority saying they would manage their properties themselves, a survey shows. At the end of last year there were nearly one million buy-to-let loans in existence, collectively worth £116bn, and accounting for one in 10 of all outstanding mortgages. Tim Hague, managing director of mortgages at Birmingham Midshires, said: "With landlords enjoying an average return of 16.3% in 2007, a buy-to-let remains a sound long-term investment. "We expect firm demand to continue throughout 2008 and beyond."

Posted by buyatthebottom @ 05:15 PM 6 Comments

Bloomberg: U.S. Economy: Existing-Home Sales Rise, Prices Fall

Sales of existing homes in the U.S. unexpectedly rose in February as prices fell by the most in four decades. Purchases increased 2.9 percent, the first gain in seven months, to an annual rate of 5.03 million, the National Association of Realtors said today in Washington. The median home value dropped 8.2 percent from a year earlier, the most since the organization began keeping records in 1968.

Guardian: Where are the first-time buyers? Day of reckoning near for the housing market

Small wonder that experts in the US predict another 10-15% off house prices there in the next year, adding to the 15% drop seen over the past year. A 25-30% house price fall in two years counts as a crash in anyone's book. The question is, of course, how bad can it get in Britain? We've already seen that lending to first-time buyers has slumped by a third since last summer while first-time buyer numbers have dropped to a record low. Lending to buy-to-let landlords is drying up too. After a decade that has seen house prices triple, banks are finally realising that lending up to 100% and more of a property that could soon be worth less than its purchase price is not terribly clever.

thedailymash.co.uk: IS HBOS RUN BY SCOTSMEN?

FINANCIAL watchdogs are to investigate malicious rumours that HBOS, one of Britain's leading banks, is run by filthy Scotsmen.

Daily Express: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/39023/Pensions-crisis-as-families-struggle

BRITONS face a £20billion pension black hole – because they are ditching savings plans in a desperate attempt to meet the soaring cost of living, it emerges today.

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 09:40 AM 9 Comments

Guardian: Sellers remain in denial

Home sellers pushed up asking prices for property last month, despite a significant slowdown in the housing market and a lending squeeze by the major banks, according to Rightmove. People putting their homes on the market for the first time raised their average asking prices last month to £239,655, an increase of 0.8% (£1,799) on January. Rightmove said sellers were deluding themselves that buyers were prepared to pay high prices at a time of heightened anxiety. It said sellers were "ignoring market reality" when the credit crunch was already cutting deep into the number of sales and consistently dragging down sale prices. The average number of unsold properties on estate agents books also rose.

Posted by little professor @ 01:41 AM 30 Comments

Mises Blog: Central Banks to Buy Junk Mortgages...or Not

Interesting commentary on the bad debt problem. Not as easy reading as the mainstream media but well worth a look: "If the banks that holding (sic) paper assets goes bankrupt, society as a whole has no fewer productive factors. Only the ownership of these assets changes. How could this lead to destructive macro-economic effects?"

JudithHeywood: Asking prices up; homes take longer to sell

"Rightmove said that the number of unsold properties was at its highest level for this time of year since it began to publish its survey in 2002. Each estate agent had an average of 67 homes on its books, up from 56 a month earlier, it said. The website's figures also showed that asking prices had risen 0.8 per cent to £239,655 as homeowners try to push up prices. However, it estimates that actual selling prices have fallen 10 per cent since their peak last year" there is a lot of EA tactics in pushing ludicrous asking price to secure mandate, but then actual sale prices are down 10% !!! FANTASTIXXXX

Posted by confused76 @ 11:22 PM 15 Comments

Times: Ministers act against threat by developers to avoid new business rates

Mr Healey told The Times that his plans amounted to “zero tolerance on commercial vandalism” – and he specifically warned developers against damaging complete but unlet properties. “It would be an extreme step for a property owner to go to the lengths of deliberately vandalising their asset. I do not believe this is likely and I expect the property industry to adapt in a responsible manner.” This property downturn will be nasty and very long AAKGHAAH HAHHAHHA

Posted by confused76 @ 11:14 PM 6 Comments

Independent: Outside View: The end of capitalism as we know it?

Article promulgates that real wages as a per capita percentage of GDP have been falling since 1973 and that the UK's measure of inflation has been massively underestimated since 1970 thus wage earners – rather than asset owners – have faced a 35-year downward pressure on their standard of living.

Posted by enuii @ 10:29 PM 8 Comments

times: Housing: Asking prices up; homes take longer to sell

Miles Shipside, the commercial director of Rightmove, said: “In the current market, sellers should price below their competition to achieve more interest now and avoid a larger price-drop later in the year.”

The Independent: Homebuyers hit as bank crisis turns the mortgage clock back 15 years

"It's not just the number of mortgage deals being pulled; it's lenders making it harder for people to borrow by insisting on a deposit of at least 10 per cent," said Ray Boulger, technical manager at mortgage broker Charcol. "It's like the clock has been turned back 10 or 15 years."

Times: 'Iron fist' Gordon Brown faces revolt

Gordon Brown's authority is being tested by a refreshing show of independent thought by members of the Labour party . In what is a change from the usual stance of, "yes Gordon, no Gordon, three bags full Gordon", senior members of the Labour party are standing up against the wish of Downing Street to deny Labour MP's a free vote on the controversial embryo research legislation.

The Times: Credit crunch: Risk-taking

Great article. The paper edition includes the 100 year debt graph that I have posted many times. The author concludes that individuals must take it on the chin and the bankers will get away with the fraud. Only in the next crisis whenever that happens can things be any different.

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 07:26 PM 7 Comments

Youtube: Bear Stears Explained!

Explanation of the hedge funds operated by Bear Stearns see also: http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html

thisismoney.co.uk: City rumours: Idle chat or dangerous talk?

It was the biggest ever attempt to undermine a blue chip British company. Careless talk: City gossip is the daily bread of traders and journalists - and generally harmless. False rumours about emergency meeting with the Bank of England briefly wiped £3bn off the value of HBoS and turned a City rumour into a national crisis as financiers feared a fresh banking crash which would dwarf the collapse of the Northern Rock. The run on HBOS shares last Wednesday and the City probe now underway has thrown the spotlight on the City's rumour-mongers as never before. To stock market reporters and City traders this is the bread and butter of the day. The phone rings and a distant voice comes on the line:

Telegraph: Iceland shows cracks as the krona crashes

As with HBOS, Kaupthing, Iceland's biggest bank, has been besieged by rumours that it could be nationalised, although the government and management deny any liquidity issues. Even so, traders in credit default swaps (CDS) have pushed the cost of protecting the country's three main banks' debt against default to stratospheric levels, leaving the banks facing prohibitively high funding costs.

timesonline: Will the global credit crunch will dampen housing demand in spring?

"Lenders are either turning down applicants or applying much more cautious valuations to properties." ...by this I guess David Smith means "applying more realistic valuations to properties". Read between the lines David, read between the lines.

Posted by bystander @ 03:04 PM 6 Comments

The Times: Mervyn King bows to Fed-style rescue deal

BRITAIN’s banks believe they have secured a deal under which the Bank of England will provide the kind of support America’s Federal Reserve has given to its beleaguered financial institutions in recent months.

Posted by quiet guy @ 01:07 PM 6 Comments

Times: No pity for first-time buyers

Rosie Millard, what a b|tch! Hope she is having nice Easter weekend!

Posted by confused76 @ 01:04 PM 17 Comments

Times: B&B hit by rating cut from Moody’s

Do we live in cokoo-land? Moody’s praised B&B for continuing to access funding through the tough market conditions, and for attracting an additional £1.3 billion of savers’ money in the first two months of the year. the bank has seen customer arrears jump by between 40% and 50% since December. B&B’s “bank financial strength rating” (BFSR) has been cut by the agency from C+ to C, with warnings of further downgrades to come. This is deep junk!

The Telegraph: HBOS directors bought stock at bargain prices

Andy Hornby, the chief executive of HBOS, spent hundreds of thousands of pounds on shares in the high street lender in the days surrounding last week's share price plunge, writes Mark Kleinman...........CORRUPTION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Posted by titaniccaptain @ 10:12 AM 12 Comments

Guardian: Tax changes fuel great escape from buy-to-let

It is a self fulfilling prophecy. These b@stards know that they have to beat the Buy-to-Loser next door. Sell quick! "Buy-to-let investors across the UK are telling estate agents to offload their properties to take advantage of new tax rules. They are deciding to offload properties that are perhaps not in the right locations or those that are the wrong type and don't fit any longer within their portfolios.' Basically they are offloading the lemons bought at the peak of the market, before banks start repossessing. AH HAHAHAHAH HHAH. Enjoy the benefit of LLEVVERAGE in an illiquid market: meet your margin calls and Happy Easter, BTL!

Posted by confused76 @ 09:48 AM 7 Comments

The Market Oracle: Bear Stearns Bailout Proves US Fed is Merely an Extension of the Financial Industry

"The Bear bailout was engineered to serve the needs of the banking establishment; nothing more. The Federal Reserve and the US Treasury are merely an extension of the financial industry. The Bear bailout proves it. "

Times: Freeze on mortgage lending to hit house prices

Even the banks are saying property is heavily overvalued. The Natiowwide says there will be falls of 10% nationally this year and next - 5% each year. So the truth is probably closer to 20% falls nationally over the same period. In the Southeast and London overvaluation is much higher - house prices are probably 50% overvalued. Surveyors are now adjusting down their valuations, which means many people are having to find huge 'second deposits' in order to re-mortgage when their fixed rate period ends. This is one factor causing house prices to fall. These falls make for a healthier and safer economy.

Telegraph: UK house prices will escape America's crash

Blah blah blah blah it's different here blah blah blah strong fundamentals blah blah blah annual rate of HPI is still positive blah blah blah correction not a crash blah blah blah.

Posted by little professor @ 12:50 AM 14 Comments

Sunday Times: How to survive the big credit crunch

Sitting on the fence sort of article with the interesting bits right at the end with interesting snippets on Gordon Browns latest recruits as advisers, plus Jenna and Bradley from Romfords Mortgage.

The Times: Homeowners to pick up £1.3bn bank bill of ‘reckless’ mortgage lenders

This is a bit of circular argument by the Sunday Times. Shock homeowners to pay £1.3bn for reckless lending. Think not - just credit risk pricing returning to normal.

BigPicture: Investing in a Post-Fact Society (a/k/a, Were the Good Times a Mirage?)

First they denied what was happening, then "it is contained", then they blamed Bears. Now, they have embraced Marx, successfully pleading for the central planners to rescue them from their own stupidity. What does the future holds if we turn our back on the facts? "One of the world's great cautionary lessons are the significant contributions made towards mathematics by the Islamic Arab Empire, circa 8th century to 15th century. While European intellectual progress had ceased -- blame the rise of church extremism -- enormous gains were being had elsewhere. Sometime around 18th or 19th centuries, the cultural roles seem to reverse. After the Age of Enlightenment, the Europeans rejected religious extremism, and prospered, while the Arab Empire embraced extremism, and suffered"

BBC: Mortgage criteria getting tighter

If things continue at this rate, soon there won't be any first time buyers left ...

bloomberg: Bank of America May Take $6.5 Billion Loss Provision

-Bank of America Corp., the second biggest U.S. bank by "assets", may take a record $6.5 billion provision in the first quarter. -Bank of America plans to buy Countrywide Financial Corp.Bank of America may try to cancel or modify the accord because the housing market has continued to deteriorate. Analyst Bove covers all bases ``At the moment, I do not foresee the economy plunging to a level that will substantiate this reserve build,'' wrote Bove, clinging onto the belief that Fed "action" will be effective. Houses are becoming affordable. This is the turning point. Wild guess or analysis? Who can tell. Bloomberg prints it.

bloomberg: Bank of England Seeks to Ease `Strains' in Markets (Update2)

Britain's central bank said it is ``not among'' those that the Financial Times reported earlier today were contemplating the purchase of mortgage-backed securities to smooth lending to consumers after a worldwide surge in borrowing costs. The Federal Reserve also denied it's in discussions to buy such debt. Time will tell.

FT: Central banks float rescue ideas

Central banks on both sides of the Atlantic are actively engaged in discussions about the feasibility of mass purchases of mortgage-backed securities as a possible solution to the credit crisis. Such a move would involve the use of public funds to shore up the market in a key financial instrument and restore confidence by ending the current vicious circle of forced sales, falling prices and weakening balance sheets.

Posted by tyrellcorporation @ 07:27 PM 20 Comments

Telegraph: Days of cheap loans and mortgages are over

How about this quote for conceit: "David Buik, a partner in City brokers BGC Partners, says: "The City is absolutely essential for the simple reason that it creates work. It provides industry, commerce and funds we need to live our lives." " We are also totally reliant on refuse collectors. Interesting article about the importance of bankers against the need for regulation, which, surprisingly, bankers tend not to agree with, and are creative in their reasons for not doing so.

Dow Jones: Fed soon could raise rates as aggressively as it has cut them

Fed chairman Ben Bernanke is well aware of the risks involved with the Fed falling too behind the curve. That is why, Seiver believes, Bernanke is likely, once he starts to raise rates to counter the inflationary threat, he "will raise rates just as aggressively" as he has recently cut them.

Times: London flotations set to stay low

"Nine floats managed to get away in London in the first quarter of this year raising a dismal $330.3m (£166m) in proceeds, according to data from Thomson Financial. These figures cut a startling contrast to the same period last year when more than $11 billion was raised from a pool of 44 new issues and to the $9.5 billion garnered from 71 IPOs in the same period of 2006" Ooops sounds just a 97% drop... never seen anything like that... my crystal ball shows big layoffs in the City. But of course, Savills said for every American who leaves there is a Russian and an Indian who arrive (but do they have to share the flat?)

NY Times: Debt-Gorged British Start to Worry That the Party Is Ending

They're on to us

Posted by quokka @ 01:40 PM 9 Comments

The Guardian: The families who bear the brunt

I must admit, I did not expect to read about real life negative equity stories just jet, I thought this would be a story by September. These poor people have suffered quite significant falls in the value of their modest properties and thus cannot renegociate new mortgage deals. I think the collapse in property has 3 years to run. This is going to get messy.

Posted by iskandar @ 12:39 PM 9 Comments

New York Times: Debt-Gorged British Start to Worry That the Party Is Ending

LONDON — At one point, Alexis Hall had more than 50 pairs of designer shoes and handbags. It never occurred to the 39-year-old media relations executive from Glasgow that her £31,500 in debt ($63,000) would be a problem. Skip to next paragraph Luke Wolagiewicz for The New York Times Jason Butler of Bloomsbury Financial Planning says loans were too easy to take out. “It was so easy to get the loans and the credit that you almost think the goods are a gift from the shop,” she said. “You don’t fully realize that it’s real money you are spending until you actually sit down and consolidate your bills and then it’s a shock.”

Guardian: BTL investors who fear they may be homeless

For many investors, it's game over and personal ruin.They have already lost the properties they believed would provide them with riches. Now they also risk their own homes Chris Miller, 52, bought 31 new-build 2-bed flats, which he was told were worth £7.5m. Through the use of gifted deposits from the developers, he did not have to put any of his own money down. Optimistic valuers told him to expect £850 rental income (exactly the amount of an interest-only mortgage) for a flat that only ever made £4-500."My monthly interest was £29,252 but all I ever cleared a month was £15,000." Now 2 of the flats have been sold and the remaining 29 have been repossessed.He still owes £3.5m. Geoff Morris, 62, now has a repossession order on his own home and is living on £157 a week benefits.

Posted by little professor @ 11:15 AM 54 Comments

Timesonline: Governor must do more to help banks, says Burt

The former deputy chairman of HBOS accused the Bank of England yesterday of failing to support British banks through the global credit crisis. Sir Peter Burt, who was chief executive of Bank of Scotland before its merger with Halifax to create HBOS, told the BBC’s Today programme that the Bank risked sending Britain into a “depression” because of its worries over moral hazard. Speaking two days after the Bank was forced to make an unprecedented statement denying that any bank had sought emergency state funding, Sir Peter said that Mervyn King, its Governor, should “go the extra mile” by offering more cash and accepting a wider range of collateral, as had the US Federal Reserve. The Claws seem to be Out

Posted by plato @ 10:46 AM 16 Comments

DavidSmith: Home economics: a solution to the problems in the mortgage market?

David Smith's vintage piece of just 10 days ago was preaching cautious optimism and all will be fine. With the confidence of an insider, David was boasting the £100bn liquidity injection by the central banks... oops a banana peel, the obscure institution formerly known as Bear Sterns brought us all back to the seriousness of the current credit crisis. And the City job losses (now estimated at 10,000 and counting) project gloom on the London housing market. Sorry, David, try to write a piece which can last more than a weekend!

Guardian: Sympathy for the BTL devils?

Should we shed tears for the buy-to-letters who are losing a fortune as property prices start to nosedive? Compare this with first-time buyers. They have to stump up a deposit. They have to prove their income. They have to make monthly mortgage payments from a taxed salary. There could only be one winner in such a one-sided game. With access to easy finance, the buy-to-letter could outbid the first-timer and push prices up to ever more ludicrous levels

Posted by confused76 @ 09:28 AM 13 Comments

timesonline: Credit crisis: Experts assess how bad it is

"London house prices are unlikely to dip for long. The 1.5 million unaccounted for Eastern Europeans will surely underpin the rental market." - David Buik, partner, BGC Partners ...surely when you take into account the demise of sterl;ing against every major currency, especially the Euro, these hidden numbers will remain hidden, back in their country of origin. "Conditions are unprecedented. The interconnected and complex financial system may itself fail catastrophically - if so, all bets are off. Consider accumulating a stock of barter goods. Rice is especially good - it stores well." - Jon Moulton, managing partner, Alchemy Partners ...ANYONE GOT A STORE OF RICE - I'VE GOT A COUPLE OF BAGS OF SUGAR.

Ask Lyrics: Was this written about Greenspan and Bernanke?

"So what's the point of robbery when nothing is worth taking?"

Video Jug: How To Get The Most Out Of A Viewing

Here's a video offering essential advice on how to sell a property. Top quality tips are provided such as "arrive before the viewer" and "remove any underpants from the floor", who knows maybe we'll avert this HPC after all!

Financial times: Surveyors lower home valuations

Homeowners coming to the end of cheap fixed-rate mortgage deals are having the valuation of their properties reduced by surveyors, who fear the housing slowdown could gather pace. Ok guys try not to smile.....dont do it.....Yes the creases at the sides of your mouths are going up...oh no its turned into full blown laughter....ok try not to dance....I do believe a jig has broken out in the room.............

Posted by titaniccaptain @ 10:35 PM 7 Comments

The Times: Homes at risk as banks seek more security for credit card debt

Hundreds of thousands of indebted Britons are at risk of losing their homes if they fall behind on their credit card and personal loan repayments after moves by the high street banks to protect their weakening balance sheets.......

YouTube: Man Stroke Woman - Estate Agent

There's been a lot of doomism this week so I hope you'll forgive me for posting a little Friday light-hearted humour. For some reason, that chap in the windows makes me think of Bernanke.

Bloomberg: U.S. Weighing Criminal Response to Mortgage Crisis (Update1)

S2R1 - Vindication perhaps - maybe these terrorists will have been trained as mortgage lenders in Iran???? 'Terrorists wanting to harm the U.S. ``have a very long attention span, their fatwas and other directives do not have an expiration date,'' he said. ``The only weapon we have is intelligence, and a large part of that is electronic intelligence.'' (from article)

Daily Mail: America is ALREADY in recession, say top economic global experts - and that spells trouble for the UK

''...Experts have accused the International Monetary Fund of "driving the car using the rear view mirror" after the global body warned the U.S. was on the verge of a recession. The world's biggest economy is already in a recession, they claim, as a draft version of the IMF's World Economic Outlook declared the U.S. economy is "very weak". Nigel Gault, chief US economist at Global Insight, a worldwide economic forecasting and consultancy firm, said he believed the US was in recession already - and that spelt problems for other countries, including the UK....''

Times: Investors ignore risks over flipping

It may be difficult to believe but speculators are shrugging off the bleak outlook for the housing market by continuing to invest in new-build developments in the hope of turning a quick profit. Many of them are lured by stories of the substantial gains made at the height of the boom. But today, despite falling house prices and warnings about the growing risks of buying off-plan, investors are still buying flats and houses with the aim of “flipping” them on to another investor before the building is complete. According to Beers, the surge in flipping is being fuelled by a lack of property for sale.

BBC iplayer: Working lunch

This is 20 March 2008 episode of working lunch. Around 23 minutes in Gillian looks at a brazilian family on £495 a month with both parents working. They have fully paid up house. They made changes to their house when they had money. Live within their needs, save up for things before they spend. The wife is planning on retiring within 5 years when she will be 48 years. I also feel they look so young for their age the calm, the composure I have never seen in the UK. Would be nice to see what you think about this simple life. PS. In Brazil you until a couple of years ago, you could not get a loan for a house. You needed 100% of proceeds to buy one.Hence they do not have any sub prime mortgages debacle on their hands. People who work for a house can have one.

Posted by deepak @ 07:18 PM 7 Comments

dailyfx: The recent drop in the BDI is our first indication that commodity hungry countries like China and India are no longer immune to the slowdown

There are strong correlations to keep in mind when it comes to the commodity dollars. The New Zealand dollar has a very high correlation with the Australian dollar, and the Australian dollar shows strong links with gold prices. Meanwhile, the Canadian dollar is well known for its correlation with oil prices (though the strength of this relationship can vary). However, did you know that gold and oil are correlated with the BDI? The relationship between the Baltic Dry Index and these commodities can be seen in the chart below, courtesy of InvestmentTools.com.

The Times: Property seminars 'play on the ignorance of buy-to-let investors'

Have you ever wondered what goes on at the property “seminars” you see advertised in all types of publications? I went along to one recently hosted by the George Wimpey Property Investor Club at the Britannia International Hotel, in the London Docklands, to find out.

Marketwatch: US is making cents, but for far more than a peny

Who else but the government would shell out almost two cents for a penny? In fiscal 2007, it cost the U.S. Mint 1.7 cents to make and distribute a one-cent coin, due to rising metal prices. "With each new penny and nickel we issue, we also increase the national debt by almost as much as the coin is worth, and these losses are rapidly mounting," Edmund Moy, director of the Mint, told House lawmakers. Baker added that producing coins that are worth more than their face value could lead to hoarding.

Times: Can the Bank of Mum and Dad rescue first-time buyers?

She is the inventor and leader of the Brick Chicks. She writes: "After the collapse of Bear Stearns, a previously obscure institution that became a household name over a weekend..." AH AHHAHHA AHHAHAHAHA... but read the entire piece, it s a load of rubbish. Her BTL portfolio will unfold... AHHHHA HAHAH

Posted by confused76 @ 05:11 PM 12 Comments

MoneyWeek: profit from the City’s best-kept secret

For years they remained one of the City’s best-kept secrets, used mainly by professional traders and fund managers, but over the last five years their popularity has exploded.

Independent: High street banks ask for extra cash

Cash strapped UK banks asked for extra financial support from the Bank of England yesterday. HBOS sticks out amongst the others especially after their bleating during the week about their ample liquid resources!

Posted by enuii @ 10:22 AM 20 Comments

Timesonline: UN's poverty chief turns on greedy 'super-bankers'

"He added that herd-minded financiers profit hugely from the inflation of asset bubbles, “but pay very little personal penalty when the bubble bursts”. Instead, ordinary people bear the costs through government bailouts and higher inflation stoked by aggressive cuts to interest rates." I know this has little to do with HPC, but the causes of the problems we, the public, face are clear and Kemal Dervis seems to understand the root cause, and isn't afraid to speak out....there should be more like him.

Posted by bystander @ 10:17 AM 8 Comments

The Times: Building societies withdraw mortgage offers as credit crunch bites

Building societies began turning borrowers away yesterday. A series of small societies, including Bath Building Society and Earl Shilton Building Society, withdrew all their home loan offers after it became impossible to secure funding for lending

Posted by titaniccaptain @ 05:47 AM 20 Comments

Reuters: Wall St Week Ahead: Stocks may rally anew on Fed's acts

Is there a change of sentiment in America?

Posted by fools @ 01:11 AM 6 Comments

Bloomberg: Citigroup cuts 2,000 jobs: source

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc is cutting about 2,000 more investment banking and trading jobs, a person briefed on the matter said, as the largest U.S. bank moves to lower costs after subprime mortgage and credit problems led to a record quarterly loss.

Bloomberg: U.S. Stocks Rally; Fannie Mae, GE Advance on Analyst Upgrades

Other banks and brokerage firms also advanced after Punk Ziegel & Co. analyst Richard Bove wrote in a research note that ``the financial crisis is over'' and it is a ``once in a generation opportunity to buy.'' Citigroup Inc., the largest U.S. lender by assets, climbed $2.09 to $22.50. Bank of America Corp., the second-biggest, increased $3.30 to $41.86. Goldman Sachs Group Inc., the largest U.S. securities firm, rose $13.14 to $179.63. Only a few days ago Bear Stearns collapsed and now apparently the crisis is over!!!

Posted by tyrellcorporation @ 08:47 PM 12 Comments

Daily Mail: Triple whammy for homebuyers as three experts deliver devastating verdict on housing market

A series of leading experts have delivered dire warnings on Britain's housing market as the credit crisis takes its toll on lenders and leaves first-time buyers struggling to get on the property ladder.

Posted by fools @ 04:58 PM 17 Comments

FT Alphaville: Sixteen of the biggest, fattest porkies

My favourite at number "10. The UK is suffering a housing shortage"

BBC Evanomics: Are we stupid

As we sit in the midst of what seems like an historic episode I find myself struck by one question: how can we have let ourselves get into this again? There’s a Homer Simpson quality to the analysis that led us here…you can picture Homer attempting to grab a donut well out of his reach, banging his head, and then repeating the mistake time after time. That’s where we appear to be in the housing market. One colleague suggested to me today – rather acutely - that housing market cycles last eleven years, while our memories last nine.

Posted by dam1an @ 03:11 PM 15 Comments

Moneymarketing: Lib Dems call on immediate action to stave off recession

Liberal Democrats leader Nick Clegg says the Bank of England and Treasury must act decisively to head off a recession. He says a combination of stricter lending and rising mortgage rates poses a serious risk of a house price collapse and the City of London is seeing not only speculation about the viability of some financial institutions but genuine concerns based upon an unprecedented breakdown of the money and credit markets. Clegg says: “The Government and the Bank of England must stop dithering"

Posted by jack c @ 02:23 PM 22 Comments

BBC: Call for action to help mortgages

Action is needed from the Bank of England otherwise the mortgage market will face "ongoing problems", says the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML). CML director general Michael Coogan said the Bank must improve levels of liquidity as strong demand for mortgages could not be met by lenders. His comments came as the CML reported gross mortgage lending was £24bn in February, a 7% fall from January. The drop had been predicted as the housing market has slowed.

Reuters: UPDATE 3-Gold falls to 1-month lows as funds cash in

Looks like gold has good support at 900. It may still go slightly lower than 900.

This is excellent news. The Elliott wave 4 correction is in. Wave 5 surge should take off either next week or the week after.

GBP is set to crumble. A superb buying opportunity

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 02:03 PM 15 Comments

Forbes.com: Credit Suisse Crumbles

LONDON - Credit Suisse plummeted on Thursday as details of write-downs it warned of in February proved to be worse than feared, and a profit warning suggested it would book a loss in the first quarter. Credit Suisse (nyse: CS - news - people ) fell 8.5%, or 4.42 Swiss francs ($4.36), to 47.38 Swiss francs ($46.75), on Thursday morning in Zurich, after it warned that it no longer expected to make a profit in the first quarter of 2008. "In the binary world that I work for that amounts to a loss," Last month Credit Suisse stunned the market by announcing that it expected to post further write-downs of $2.85 billion, but gave little detail on where they had come from, except to say that they were in part due to "mismarkings and pricing errors" by a "handful" of traders.

Interactive Investor: Why didn’t we see the credit crunch coming?

'Chuck Prince, then chief executive of Citigroup, told the FT last summer...."At some point, the disruptive event will be so significant that instead of liquidity filling in, the liquidity will go the other way. I don’t think we’re at that point." Mr Prince ignored his own warning!' Quite...

BBC: Small societies restrict lending

"The Bath and the Earl Shilton have withdrawn all their deals, except those at their standard variable rates." The first of many as we go into the great UK property unwind?

The Second Great Depression: The Second Great Depression

Doom and gloom tv :-) Competition or kindred spirits? Maybe we should join forces?

Posted by hardlanding @ 01:01 PM 20 Comments

MoneyWeek: The last stand of the property-boom optimists

The latest horrible numbers from the property market seem to have cleared out the last of the buy-to-let optimists. A good idea would be to sell out now, despite one paper's suggestion of turning your city centre buy-to-let into a holiday let.

Posted by damien @ 12:19 PM 7 Comments

Telegraph: House prices fall 'won't help first-time buyers'

Homeowners and those hoping to step onto the property ladder have both been dealt a blow after a senior Bank of England policymaker warned that house prices will fall but the impact of the credit crunch means affordability won't improve.

Posted by quiet guy @ 11:36 AM 30 Comments

Guardian: Bank chiefs to meet King

Bank of England governor Mervyn King is today meeting the heads of the country's five biggest banks - including HBOS, whose shares slumped yesterday after a series of false rumours spread by speculators swept through the stock market. HBOS will be joined at the meeting in Threadneedle Street by the other "Big Five" banks - HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Barclays and Lloyds TSB. The bank chiefs are expected to call on King to pump more money into the financial system to ensure that banks cannot be brought down by a liquidity crisis.

Posted by quiet guy @ 11:31 AM 8 Comments

BBC Five Live: Richard Bacon discusses the economy

Richard Bacon, who bought his London pad last summer at the top of the market, uses his phone in to talk to people struggling with mortgage debt.

Bloomberg: Bernanke's Own Home on Capitol Hill Shows Housing Boom and Bust

The U.S. housing recession has arrived literally on the doorstep of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke. Bernanke lives in Washington's Capitol Hill area in a four- bedroom, 2,600-square-foot house he bought new in May 2004 for $839,000. Almost four years later, it may not be worth any more, according to real estate records and local agents. Bernanke's timing wasn't the best -- values in the area peaked a year later -- and he is hardly alone among Americans living in an investment that's turned cold. His situation shows that the slump that began with distress in the subprime market is now engulfing wealthier neighborhoods, including some in the nation's capital.

MoneyWeek: Why you should keep avoiding banking shares

Just a year ago, the idea that you could spark a double-digit fall in the shares of one of the UK’s biggest banks simply by sending an anonymous email round a few trading desks would have been ridiculous. But then, a year ago, the idea of a run on a British bank – even a jumped-up bit player like Northern Rock – would have been laughable. Now we’ve seen the demise of a venerable Wall Street institution too, no one seems safe...

BBC News: Surprise rise in UK sales

UK retail sales unexpectedly rose strongly in February, driven by higher food sales at the supermarkets, official figures have shown.

Posted by afrobaggie @ 10:49 AM 16 Comments

CML: Gross lending declines in February

Gross lending declined to an estimated £24 billion in February, down 7% from £25.9 billion in January and 6% from £25.6 billion February 2007, according to the Council of Mortgage Lenders. The Bank of England approvals data for January showed subdued levels of house purchase activity and a sharp rise in remortgage approvals, which is likely to be supporting current lending volumes.

Mail: The middle-class 'property tycoons' now burned by buy-to-let

What a disaster! I a way I feel sorry for those who have put lifetime savings into property. The nasty side of "leverage" in a down market is going to erode the gains of the past few years very quickly. It ll end up in tears! They will soon realized they are subsidizing tenants and have lined the pockets of bank managers.

Posted by confused76 @ 09:43 AM 26 Comments

Mail: UK could be on brink of a house price crash more severe than in the US, economists warn

House prices in Britain could be facing a crash more severe than the one in the United States, economists warned today

Posted by confused76 @ 09:39 AM 9 Comments

Daily Telegraph: Will house prices fall?

The "great and the good" of the mortgage industry give their views on the housing market.

BBC: Bank bosses to meet governor King

The bosses of major UK banks will be meeting Bank of England governor Mervyn King later. They are likely to tell Mr King that he needs to do more to reassure their creditors that the central bank will provide help if it is needed. It comes a day after the Financial Services Authority launched an inquiry into whether false rumours were spread in the City to undermine bank shares. The Bank of England reassured investors that the rumours were untrue.

.independent: After a decade riding high, the pound may have a long way to fall

Most of us have hardly noticed what has been happening, largely because we think of the external value of the pound in dollar terms.

London Metro: Britain faces worse housing crash than US

''...Britain could follow the US into severe economic slowdown – and see an even worse house price crash, experts have warned. Parallels between consumer spending in the two countries are 'disturbing', said the respected financial forecaster Capital Economics. ...''

Posted by hpwatcher @ 06:33 AM 22 Comments

news.com: AUSTRALIA ON VERGE OF RECESSION

While the Reserve Bank takes a largely benign view of the unfolding credit crisis, believing China's growth will insulate us from its worst consequences, others are less sanguine.

TELEGRAPH UK: Traders fear huge shares sell-off MF Global warning sparks fears of sell-off

One of London's leading brokers has demanded that clients put up significantly more cash to cover derivative positions - a move which traders fear could result in millions of shares being dumped on the market today. MF Global informed clients yesterday that the "margin" on contract for differences (CFDs) was increasing on certain stocks from 25pc to 90pc. The clients have been given until this morning to put up the extra cash or close positions.

spiegel.de: Bear Stearns Shock Crosses the Atlantic

Bear Stearns Shock Crosses the Atlantic The question UBS must wrestle with is whether its vaunted private banking and wealth management arms, which probably constitute nearly all of its market value at present, and its investment banking and trading arms, which are responsible for its disastrous losses in the U.S. mortgage market, belong under the same roof. The danger for UBS is that such losses eventually scare off clients and cause private bankers to move to competitors.

telegraph online: Hunt for £100m rogue trader after attack on HBOS share price

"Malicious rumours circulated by speculators were blamed for the run, which saw more than £3 billion wiped off the value of housing stock in the UK" - said a distraught Alsop (wishful re-writing)

Posted by bystander @ 10:47 PM 19 Comments

CNBC: Tomorrow's Trades: Gold

The Fast Money traders discuss whether the gold run is over or not. They're joined by Dennis Gartman, founder of the Gartman Letter.

Indyblogs: Cash Crusader: Mortgage market turns back the clock

Be careful what you wish for. When Chancellor Darling mused in the aftermath of Northern Rock that he would like a return to old fashioned banking values he was derided by many. Well, now, as the credit crunch is getting worse rather than better it seems that it really is back to the future for the UK mortgage market.

Citywire: Bank of England denies HBOS approach for funding

The Bank of England (BoE) has issued a statement denying rumours that it has met with HBOS to discuss emergency funding.The BoE was forced to make the statement amid mounting speculation it had sought emergency funding from the Bank. A BoE spokesman said the highly unusual decision to refute the rumour was taken after HBOS’ own denial failed to satisfy the market and support its share price. The statement said: 'The BoE has not been approached by any UK financial institution or is aware of any British bank facing liquidity problems.'

times: Interest rates set to be cut, experts suggest

Sir John Gieve joined external member David Blanchflower in calling for rates to be reduced to 5pc this month, according to the minutes of the meeting.

BBC News: July 7 inquests 'could be secret'

Relatives of those who died in the 7 July bombings fear the inquests into their deaths could be heard in secret.

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 07:13 PM 20 Comments

BBC News: Morgan Stanley profits fall 42%

Morgan Stanley, the second biggest US investment bank, announced that profits fell by 42%, as losses continued on mortgages and loans.

The Times: Thornburg teeters on the brink for $1bn

Thornburg Mortgage today made a last ditch attempt to stave off bankruptcy by agreeing a deal with its key creditors, including the recently rescued Bear Stearns, that gives them the option of buying about a quarter of the company for a fraction of its market value.

sun: brown makes crisis promise

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! now im worried

Bloomberg: Fannie, Freddie Surplus Capital Requirement Is Eased

The goal is to ``help restart the housing engine that powers our economy,'' Fannie Mae Chief Executive Officer Daniel Mudd said. There you have it. Housing, which produces NOTHING, is supposedly an engine for the economy. He couldn't have had it more wrong. Nations do well when money is borrowed to invest in products and ideas that produce profit in the future, not when the money just chases up the price of houses.

Evening Standard: Bank of England rescues HBOS...

Whether the rumours were true or not is neither here nor there, the simple fact that a lot a people were prepared to believe them speaks volumes.

Posted by mark wadsworth @ 04:28 PM 25 Comments

Timesonline Money Bulletin: Savills fears City bonus impact on property

Savills, the property agency, has given warning of sharp price falls for multi-million-pound Central London flats and houses this year and next, reversing a forecast made last autumn. Fears that City banking bonuses for the coming year will be a fraction of the last £7.4 billion annual payout is expected to put a further chill on demand for central London housing in the £1 million to £5 million bracket. House prices in this price bracket have already fallen on average 1.5 per cent during the first three months of this year. Those price falls come after a decline of 2 per cent during the last three months of 2007, according to Savills. The property agency expects prices to continue falling quarter-on-quarter for the whole of 2008, ending down 4 per cent for the year.

Signs of the Times: Don Harrold on The Fed, Bear Stearns and Jim Cramer

Don Harrold on Bear Stearns, Jim Cramer, Mainstream TV and the unelected, unaccountable Federal Reserve and Bear Stearns - a short dramatic video.

Money Week: The strange case of the jailed market genius

Posted last March after the Feb 27 2007 banking index top

Times: Tony Dye

Successful City fund manager famed for his predictions, not always correct, of financial doom.....

telegraph.co.uk: FSA to launch probe as rumours hit UK banks

"We will not tolerate market participants taking advantage of the current market conditions to commit abuse by spreading false rumours and dealing on the back of them." The FSA and BOE are the only ones allowed to commit these abuses!

Posted by lloyd @ 02:00 PM 8 Comments

Telegragh: City looks to the heavens for answers

"Can astrology really help predict the direction of financial markets? Danny Penman talks to two business people who believe the answer is yes"

Posted by happyrenterz @ 01:04 PM 20 Comments

timesonline: Bank of England's Sir John Gieve calls for rate cut

Only one word in this man's vocabulary - CUT.

FT: The credit crunch and the housing market: questions and answers

What should I do? It is probably a good idea to avoid selling unless absolutely necessary. If you have to sell, market the property at about 10 per cent below its value to attract interest. This way, you may spark a bidding war.

Posted by inbreda @ 11:35 AM 20 Comments

Money Week: Britain realises you can go wrong with property

"I was on BBC London the other day talking about all this and for the first time I can remember I was not interrupted by anyone saying “yeah but you can’t go wrong with property can you?” It is gradually dawning that you can." "When they fall, they fall quite fast."

The Telegraph: Sooner Fed bail-outs than the 1930s revisited

The depression can only be delayed now. It will come - but not until 2011

MoneyWeek: Why the US rate cut is good news for gold

The US central bank cut rates by .75 yesterday - and, oddly, gold then fell $25 whilst the dollar rose. The markets may be a little calmer for now, but the fear will return, says Dominic Frisby.

Financial Times: HBOS plunges in jittery London market

HBOS shares fell as much as 18 per cent on Wednesday as rumours of troubles in the UK banking sector wiped out early gains on the FTSE 100.

BBC News: Shares reverse over bank worries

European shares are down, despite Tuesday's US interest rate cut, as worries remain over the credit crunch. UK banks were the worst hit. HBOS tumbled 17% before recovering, Royal Bank of Scotland was down 6% and Alliance and Leicester fell 5%.

This Is Money: House prices to fall 20%, economist warns

House prices could fall by up to 20% over the next two years, a senior economist warned yesterday. The prediction from Professor David Miles, chief UK economist at Morgan Stanley, will dismay millions of homeowner (and delight many others).

Daily Mail: As lenders get tough, property prices look to drop 20 per cent in two years

House prices could fall by up to 20 per cent over the next two years, a senior economist warned yesterday. The prediction, from Professor David Miles, chief UK economist at Morgan Stanley, will dismay millions of homeowners

Posted by titaniccaptain @ 10:19 AM 10 Comments

BBC News: Bank voted 7-2 not to cut rates

The Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) voted 7-2 to keep interest rates on hold at 5.25% this month, released minutes have shown.

BBC "News": Warning over house prices plunge

Janey Milligan, chairman of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, predicted a surge of properties for sale in the summer and autumn. This means a flood of properties on the market in the summer and autumn, pushing prices down as buyers have more flats and houses to choose from.

Market Oracle: Gold to Sell off to $940 on US Interest Rate Cut Decision

920 is the 50 dma and should offer good support. Anywhere in the 900-950 range should be a good buying oppotunity as Elliott wave 5 (from last August) blasts off.

Home Move: Article

At its third annual Great Housing Market Debate, Wriglesworth Consultancy asked 150 industry representatives their views on the future of the property market. The poll established that just one said average prices would increase this year. The majority of the representatives said they believe that property prices will decline in the next 12 months but a recession is extremely unlikely. The one dissenting voice at the Great Housing Market Debate was from Stuart Law, Assetz chief executive, who said "the mere fact everyone said that house prices will fall this year reaffirms my belief that house prices will now in fact modestly increase." Why on earth did they invite this dishonest clown?

BBC News: Brown unveils security strategy

Heard on the radio this morning that the strategy even covers the threat of nuclear attack.
2 points

Nicely timed with the starting of the Iraq war (in some kind of deflection plan and even justification for the war)

As I said earlier, March 19 is the day that the "information war" starts to go from passive and un-noticed by the masses to active and noticed. This is a gradual process that will increase as the weeks go by.

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 09:38 AM 23 Comments

The Telegraph: All aboard the Federal Reserve cash express

Yet that is already soaring. According to Capital Economics, M3 - the broadest measure of the money supply - grew at an annual rate of 15.3pc in February, almost double the long term average and the highest rate of growth in 37 years.
Economists debate the relative wisdom of such a move. Many are concerned that such rapid growth will lead to rampant inflation
However Paul Ashworth, senior US economist at Capital Economics, said: "This is not necessarily inflationary. The increase has to be measured against the rising precautionary demand for relatively liquid balances in the current period of financial market distress. Indeed, there is a risk that even after the latest acceleration, the supply of money is still not increasing quickly enough.

time: But has that “tomorrow”, and a grim day of reckoning, finally arrived?

Since at least the turn of the century, the twin booms in the housing market and the high street have seen Britain's seemingly unstoppable army of consumers spending with abandon. In a “What the censored?” culture of “Buy today and worry tomorrow” that has gripped the nation, households have run up mountainous debts that now total £1.4 trillion.

You Tube: Jim Rogers: FED is using taxpayers money to buy BS maseratis

Interview with Jim Rogers

Press Assoc, Yahoo News: Brown vows to fight off recession

Gordon Brown ''...High levels of home ownership, low national debt, and relatively low inflation would all help to cushion the blow of the latest period of uncertainty...''

Posted by hpwatcher @ 09:15 AM 6 Comments

Newbury News: Telecoms giant announces 450 redundancies as senior management is slashed by 20 per cent

Newbury MP Richard Benyon today said "we cannot hide the fact that a 10 per cent reduction of personnel at the Newbury headquarters is a blow to the local community, but its one that we will survive.In the next twelve months we may be having this conversation about other companies in West Berkshire, including a lot of smaller companies, and we really have to worry about that.”

cncb: Fed's Impact on the Dollar

Fed's Impact on the Dollar Discussing the dollar direction following the Fed cut, with Meg Browne, senior currency strategist at Brown Brothers Harriman & David Kotok, CIO at Cumberland Advisers, speaking with CNBC's Amanda Drury & Sri Jegarajah

AUSTRALIAN: Party's over as auctions take a hammering

Volumes were markedly higher than last year in all states, partly because of the coming Easter weekend but also because mortgage stress is forcing a large number of people to put their homes up for sale. Experts said the falling clearance rates reflected the dramatic drop in consumer confidence.

Chosun Ilbo, South Korea: '12-Step Scenario' Forecasts Meltdown of US Economy

Is the U.S. economy heading for a total meltdown? A Samsung Securities report released on Tuesday that cites a hypothesis by economist Nouriel Roubini suggests it may be. "A 12-step scenario for descent to financial disaster presented in 2006 by Nouriel Roubini, a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, is turning into reality," the report said. Ultra-pessimist Roubini outlined his 12-step scenario for U.S. economic and financial meltdown in July 2006. In the first step to financial disaster, he cites the housing recession -- the worst in U.S. history.

cnbc: Subprime to Bite Aussie Housing

After the massive subprime crisis in the U.S., John Symond, CEO of Aussie Home Loans says the Australian housing market is likely to get worse. He explains why with CNBC's Jeffrey James & Sri Jegarajah.

Guardian: Double jeopardy: why the Halifax lost a little extra capitalisation

In a little over a year HBOS's stockmarket capitalisation has fallen from £40bn to under £18bn, HBOS, the largest liquid savings institution in Britain, still relies on the wholesale market. Alex Potter, banks analyst at Collins Stewart, believes this has contributed to the dent to sentiment. "They have wholesale funding pressures and a surprisingly large amount of this sub-prime exposure." Still directors bonus are now linked to short term gains rather than long term stability. Still filing their boots.

times: Deepening misery on Wall Street, prophesies of recession and the recent freefall of the dollar could set off a $300 billion (£148 billion) time bomb in the global yen carry trade, dealers are giving warning.

Japan's low interest rates, an anomaly in the financial world, result from Japanese central bank monetary policy, which has, Richard Jerram, the Macquarie economist, said, “defied orthodox economic thinking for more than 20 years”

AUSTRALIAN: NZ may face recession: Minister

NEW Zealand could slip into a recession over the next year, Finance Minister Michael Cullen said, conceding to the prospect of two consecutive quarters of negative growth over the next year. Analysts nevertheless believe the country's central bank won't need to follow the US Federal Reserve into cutting interest rates any time soon.

AUSTRALIAN: Australia's growth to slow: survey

A SURVEY points to Australia's growth slowing and is another sign that official interest rates are unlikely to rise later this year. The Westpac-Melbourne Institute leading index of economic activity, which indicates the likely pace of activity three to nine months into the future, was 4.1 per cent in January.

Money Marketing: Lender action will cause worst market outcome, says CML

Selfish mortgage lenders looking after their own interests, rather than stoke HPI, will cause a crash says CML

PropertySnake: NW6

The W. Hampstead area (W means wannabe and not West) is going to suffer the most spectacular price fall in North London. Close to the amenities of the real Hampstead, and conveniently linked to Central London via the highly reliable Tube, W Hampstead is one of those fringe areas which shot up in price for almost no reasons: no schools, traffic is a bi*ch, no parking whatsoever. As it went up for no reason, it will crash with a vengeance. 180 price drops, some down 20% after almost a year on the market. AGHAHAHHAHHA AHAHHA HA

Posted by confused76 @ 11:52 PM 8 Comments

Azzetz: Thank you Darling

"Our research shows that there is a desire amongst this group to have available a product such as stand-alone interest rate insurance, which will give them payment stability without tying them to lenders or products." And the final ray of sunshine for property investors is that more and more people who may once have been on the house-buying market are now opting for a rented property. This has led to growing optimism about the potential for success in the UK's buy-to-let market. So the moral of the story? With the help of insurance innovation and perhaps even some changes by the Treasury, homeowners will be able to cope in the face of adversity and have their happy ending. AH HHAHAHAHAHAHHA

Posted by confused76 @ 11:28 PM 10 Comments

MortgageBusiness: Mortgages Plc to withdraw from BTL market

“We have seen both an increase in the number of new buy to let applications and a deterioration in credit quality, as other lenders have tightened criteria and pulled out of the market. “Given the continuing difficulties in the capital markets, we have decided to pull out of the prime buy to let market for the time being and focus our resources on residential lending. However, we will continue to monitor developments carefully and, as when the mortgage market starts to return to normal, we will review our position with regard to prime buy to let lending.”

AUSTRALIAN: Retirees fast-forward to reverse mortgages

There are now 33,700 reverse mortgages in Australia totalling more than $2 billion in value - a rise of 34 per cent in the past year. Deloitte partner James Hickey said that during the past year $466 million was borrowed - the majority in a lump sum, rather than an income stream.

DailyGoss: Kirsty throws a hissy fit

Just a bit of light relief - here's Krusty throwing a strop when she doesn't get thing her own way on Sport Relief's Celebrity Apprentice. What will she be like when her beloved housing market is in tatters?

Posted by little professor @ 09:58 PM 12 Comments

This is money: Iceland's banks top 'riskiness league'

In the days and hours before the crisis hit Bear Stearns, its CDS price hit 720 points. The message being sent out by the credit markets was clear - the bank's debt is very high risk. Credit insurance for debts at Iceland's biggest bank, Landsbanki, is priced at 610 points while that for Kaupthing is priced at a hair-raising 856. Given that these two have taken billions in UK retail deposits, it may be a sobering thought for savers to consider where they are putting their cash. These banks are now seen as the most unsafe in the developed world.

ThisIsMoney: Sterling's big slide may not be over yet

Sheltering behind the dollar is another troubled currency, the pound, and the fall in sterling, though largely unnoticed by the man in the street, is in many ways as dramatic as anything that is happening to the dollar

The Mess that Greenspan Made: Beware the housing bottom-callers

Other posts on here: - A shocking new concept - living within your means - More gloom and doom from Martin Feldstein - Another favorable gold article in the mainstream media

WorldNetDaily: U.S. loses No. 1 ranking as dollar drops

The European Union has overtaken the U.S. as the world's No. 1 economy due to the continued dramatic fall of the dollar, according to a Reuters report. The U.S. Gross Domestic Product, or GDP, for 2007 is officially estimated at $13,843,800 billion. The 2007 GDP for the 15 EU countries is estimated at 8,847,889 billion euros, the report said. That means when the euro yesterday topped $1.56, the EU officially became the largest economy in the world.

FT: Fed cuts rates by 75 basis points

The Federal Reserve on Tuesday cut interest rates by 75 basis points - slightly less than the 100 basis points many in the market had been expecting. The smaller move reflects the Fed’s continuing concern about inflation, and its fear that too large a cut might trigger an adverse reaction from the bond market.

Posted by jack c @ 06:24 PM 14 Comments

LandlordExpert: Buy to let unlikely to 'boom' or 'shrink'

Evan Davis believes rental incomes will remain stable, but also questioned the longer-term demand for rented property. “Demographic change has underpinned demand for rented property in the UK,” he says. “However, the pound has been depreciating against the zloty and other Eastern European currencies, which might reduce the economic incentives for recent migrants to remain in the UK. “I’ve already heard anecdotal evidence of Poles buying one way coach tickets back to Poland and we may be looking at a cyclical phenomenon in terms of immigration, which will lessen demand for rented accommodation.” Ho! Ho! Ho!

Posted by confused76 @ 04:05 PM 14 Comments

IndiaDaily: Gold ready to crash to $600 an ounce with Indian gold import down 80%

I know some of you out there have some gold. This article seems to imply that the peak is coming. Good luck.

Posted by stillthinking @ 03:46 PM 21 Comments

MoneyWeek: Just how bad is the US recession?

The US government has been fudging its economic statistics in order to convince the public that conditions are rosier than they look - and to implement secret tax increases.

BBC NEWS: US admits economy is in downturn

US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has admitted that the US economy is facing a "sharp decline" at the moment but hoped for a recovery later in the year.

Posted by titaniccaptain @ 01:56 PM 6 Comments

Guardian: Inflation soars in February

Cheese, milk and bread prices rose by 17.6% on an annual basis last month - the largest rise since records began in 1997.

Posted by happyrenterz @ 01:54 PM 9 Comments

Times: Find the silver lining during the downturn

This has to be the worst list of "how to profit from the downturn" ever conceived by man. Highlights include: * Buy shares in banks * Spread bet on the stock markets * Buy a house at auction Read the comments for a bit of sanity.

FT Adviser: Market squeezes Paragon into streamlining

"These changes are being made to ensure we can adjust our business to the current environment and to position ourselves to take advantage of improved conditions in the future." The last paragraph says it all, who's normal are we talking about here?

thedailymash.co.uk: MONOCLE GREASE AND PENNY FARTHING OIL REMOVED FROM INFLATION BASKET

A RANGE of typical household goods including monocle grease and penny farthing oil have been removed form the basket of items used to measure inflation. The new basket will include a range of modern, everyday purchases including spats, violin cases and sheet music for Dixieland jazz. Officials say they want to bring the consumer price index up to date without going so far as to include things that people actually buy. A Treasury spokesman said: "There are two kinds of inflation. There's the inflation we talk about on the news, which generally hovers around the 2% mark.

Posted by doomwatch @ 12:43 PM 7 Comments

Times Online: Northern Rock cuts mortgages and axes 2,000 jobs

Mortgage holders thrown to the wolves unlike City Bankers who get bailouts on demand!

The Telegraph: Europe idle as US battles meltdown

The US Federal Reserve has resorted to the nuclear option in its ever-more depleted arsenal, invoking a Depression-era clause to shoulder the risk of losses stemming from the collapse of Bear Stearns, and to lend money directly to broker dealers.

Market Oracle: The Real Bear Stearns Story and the Risks of Systemic Collapse

This is not a bailout. The shareholders at Bear have been essentially wiped out. Note that a third of the shares of Bear were owned by Bear employees. Many of them have seen a lifetime of work and savings wiped out, and their jobs may be at risk, even if they had no connection with the actual events which caused the crisis at Bear. Don't tell them there was no moral hazard.

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 11:33 AM 9 Comments

Time Magazine: Do Americans Care About Big Brother?

"A quick tally of the record of civil liberties erosion in the United States since 9/11 suggests that the majority of Americans are ready to trade diminished privacy, and protection from search and seizure, in exchange for the promise of increased protection of their physical security"

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 11:26 AM 8 Comments

MoneyWeek: Why Bear Stearns' collapse means you can't get a mortgage

The collapse of Bear Stearns had a predictable impact on stock markets across the world yesterday. But few suffered as badly as the UK market - British banks took a pounding once again. The Bank of England auctioned off £5bn of short-term loans yesterday, but banks requested almost five times that amount. The move came as the inter-bank lending rate spiked up to 5.59%, in the largest rise in three months. Meanwhile, mortgage rate increases and product withdrawals make a mockery of all the feeble articles being printed in the weekend property supplements about ‘a spring recovery’ in the property market. Banks in the UK are already suffering. What will happen when the UK housing crash gets fully underway?

Posted by damien @ 10:54 AM 9 Comments

The Telegraph: Wall Street rallies to aid Lehman

"By yesterday morning, the banks' prime brokerage departments - which service hedge fund clients - were under strict instructions not to do or say anything in the market that could damage Lehman"

It is full steam ahead into the Armstrong low this Easter.

Reuters News: Dollars tough to sell on the streets of Amsterdam

The U.S. dollar's value is dropping so fast against the euro that small currency outlets in Amsterdam are turning away tourists seeking to sell their dollars for local money while on vacation in the Netherlands.

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Now Presenting: Deflation!

Nice chart of declining yield curves, which he says argues against stagflation. His other point is if assets are marked to market (like Bear Stearns just has been) then we are talking about deflation now, not inflation.

BBC: UK consumer inflation hits 2.5%

UK consumer inflation reached its highest level in nine months last month, spurred by rising energy bills. The Office for National Statistics said the Consumer Prices Index (CPI) hit 2.5% on an annual basis in February, up from 2.2% in January. A key reason for the rise was the change in the method used to calculate energy bills. Retail Prices Index inflation, which includes mortgage interest payments, remained the same at 4.1% last month.

Posted by jack c @ 09:48 AM 11 Comments

Telegraph: A sobering spectacle for a market optimist

"I have a confession to make.I seriously underestimated the depth of the current crisis." "The collapse of America's fifth largest investment bank is a sign that the world has gone a bit mad in recent years. We have forgotten the simple truth that ultimately you can only spend what you earn." "This is my last column here for a while. I'm taking my fascination for the great game of investment to Fidelity. Thank you for reading."

Posted by andrew @ 09:10 AM 8 Comments

Economic Indicator Services: Boom / Bust why did Gordon Refuse to Listen?

Just a title from Fred. What amuses me is this. A posting from Greenbay said "yes there are business cycles but i dont believe there is a cycle in property". This is what i find strange about these BTLrs. They Invest in a market that for 400 years (per Fred) has had reliable (excluding the war periods) booms and busts in Land values which have dragged up HP with them (note Fred suggests that HP depreciate - its the land that they are built on which suffers the boom/ bust). Now i have personally not done the work but Fred has, so why oh why would the Bulls insist that they are right and 400 years of history is wrong? Now it may be that "this time" they are right - but its always different "this time", or more likely they have no idea about this research. Baffling!

Posted by techieman @ 08:26 AM 13 Comments

Bloomberg.com: "Bernanke May Cut Benchmark Rate by Most Since Volcker"

"The severity of the crisis was underscored by the Fed's emergency action on the evening of March 16, the first weekend policy shift since 1979. A week ago, the debate among economists was whether the Fed would cut by 50 basis points or 75 basis points. Now, a reduction of 1 percentage point is seen as a sure bet among futures traders and some anticipate a move of as much as 1.25 percentage points. Either would be the deepest since Volcker's Fed lowered the federal funds rate to 10 percent from 11.75 percent in October 1984." Uh oh - this is gonna be a heck of a wave of money...

Findaproperty: Merthyr Tydfil Rockets Up In Value

Prices in the Surrey town rose from £1,988 per sq m in 2002 to £2,577 per sq m in 2007, a 30 per cent rise. ...........so I will be looking for a 30% fall, once the air clears.

Posted by bystander @ 07:10 AM 13 Comments

BBC: Rising numbers seek debt advice

A survey of more than 300 Citizen's Advice Bureau (CAB) offices found a 35% rise in mortgage queries. The combination of big increases in household bills, especially fuel, and rising housing costs is putting additional pressure on people's finances when they are already stretched to the limit," said Ms Perchard.

Telegraph: UK facing worst financial crisis 'in decades'

"On a chaotic day in the City, the pound suffered its worst one-day fall since Black Wednesday in 1992 amidst fears of a growing global recession."

Guardian: House prices and mortgage deals down

For anyone trying to sell a house at the moment, the latest bout of financial gloom from Wall Street could not have come at a worse time. Estate agents across the country were reporting "grim times ahead" yesterday, with buyers "virtually non-existent" in many areas. Prices are falling by 5-10% in some cities. "It's flatter than a flat pancake - properties that sold for £180,000 last year are struggling to make £150,000 now" says estate agent David Potter. "Buyers are frankly afraid to buy a house right now because they fear it will be worth £50,000 less in six months time, and you can't blame them." he said.

Posted by little professor @ 01:13 AM 10 Comments

Times: FTBs hit as lenders pull the plug

Harsh new conditions set by banks may leave many borrowers unable to get a mortgage, after the sudden demise of Bear Stearns fuelled concerns that the credit crunch will prove deeper and more enduring than was first thought. Even "prime" mortgage borrowers may be hit with higher interest rates in months to come as banks become increasingly jittery and attempt to shield themselves. Borrowers who have secured pre-approval for a mortgage are finding offers suddenly withdrawn. On a £150,000 Nationwide home loan, a borrower now needs a £37,500 deposit to get its most competitive rate of 5.68%. A month ago the same borrower would have required a deposit of only £15,000 (10%) to obtain the same rate.

Bloomberg: Pound Falls Most in Six Years Against Euro, Reaches Record Low

Pound falls 2% against Euro, falls to 3 year low against the Yen, and even falls against the Dollar!

Overseas holidays now getting expensive, are they in the ONS shopping basket?

Money News: CML calls for rethink on equity release

A new study from the Council of Mortgage Lenders (CML) has suggested that there is potential for the UK equity release market to be growing at a much faster rate. Pardon, did I read that right?

Hillingdon Council Website: First time buyers' scheme

Grants for fully employed people ... worth £15 750 on a £210k property ... their recommendations include not borrowing more than 3.5 x your income (after outgoings) which means you can be earning over £50k .Please have a word with your MP.

Posted by hillingdon bob @ 10:09 PM 8 Comments

Bearstearns.com: "BEAR STEARNS FIRST QUARTER EARNINGS ANNOUNCEMENT SCHEDULED FOR MARCH 17, 2008 WILL NOT OCCUR"

"NEW YORK – New York – March 16, 2008 – In light of entering into an agreement to merge with JPMorgan Chase, The Bear Stearns Companies Inc. (NYSE: BSC) will not be announcing its first quarter 2008 financial results on Monday, March 17, 2008, as previously scheduled."

Posted by trough2010 @ 09:48 PM 8 Comments

Times: Support for Labour hits 25-year low

Gordon Brown is not quite as ugly as Michael Foot but there are interesting parallels between the two men. To name just a couple, Labour's popularity hit the basement when Foot was made leader. Foot lasted as leader of the Labour party for just 3 years before Labour got thumped by the Conservatives in a Landslide. If the yougov polls are anything to go by then if an election was tomorrow Cameron's Tories would give Brown's Labour a hammering of Landslide proportions. It would also seem that the public are extremely unimpressed with the leader of the Labour party. Brown's popularity has taken a hammering and is at its lowest rating since the Labour party gave him the job as PM. As for Darling nearly half of voters say, "he is not up to the job". Interesting times ahead for Labour!

garrington.co.uk: Phil Spencer

"Phil also provides non-biased property opinion for several leading property publications, national newspapers and TV programs."

BBC: UK will fight turbulence - Brown

He told MPs that an EU summit at the weekend had agreed "co-ordinated action at a European and global level".

Posted by alan @ 04:15 PM 24 Comments

Citywire: AA-rated Tom Walker says crisis worst since 1974, Lehmans also vulnerable

Martin Currie's AA-rated North American manager Tom Walker said the current US liquidity crisis following JP Morgan Chase's knockdown purchase of Bear Stearns is as bad as the Opec oil crisis of 1974. Head of private client research at Charles Stanley Stockbrokers Jeremy Batstone said the central banks had yet to grasp the full extent of the financial crisis and said the UK economic scenario was the wost for 17 years.

Telegraph: Property market: A spring recovery

Flogging a dead horse....... "There's been a small but important change in direction," says Richard Donnell, research director at the consultancy Hometrack and an adviser on housing markets to local authorities and government bodies. "After eight months of falling demand, our latest survey saw a clear pick up with an eight per cent increase in buyers. This is a smaller rise than we'd normally see but with interest rates coming down it seems buyers are coming back to the market."

Posted by hpwatcher @ 03:07 PM 23 Comments

BBC "News": Mortgage brokers 'act fast' tip

This is a new low in journalism. There really should be an investigation into how the BBC has portrayed the housing market as a one-way bet. Whether its from editors' private interests or government pressure, its corruption.

Posted by paul @ 02:47 PM 11 Comments

Conservative Home: Time to look at Land Value Tax?

In which I explain to them how to end ridiculous boom and bust cycle in housing market once and for all. And get roundly booed for doing so.

Posted by mark wadsworth @ 02:05 PM 14 Comments

MoneyWeek: Why the UK's property downturn will be worse than America's

Negative equity is an unpleasant - but very real - prospect for those who bought near the peak of the housing boom. And the pain could be much more drawn-out for defaulting homeowners on this side of the Atlantic.

Posted by damien @ 12:14 PM 16 Comments

BBC News: Muffins enter UK Basket

Fruit smoothies, muffins and portable digital storage devices have all been added to a typical basket of UK goods, used to measure inflation.

Posted by afrobaggie @ 12:01 PM 31 Comments

Bloomberg: BOE Offers Banks Emergency Cash to Ease Money Markets

"The Bank of England said it will offer extra cash to banks in the first such emergency operation in six months to alleviate tensions in money markets".

Posted by alan @ 11:36 AM 16 Comments

MoneyWeek: A rescue for Bear Stearns, but the Fed is destroying the dollar

Markets have tumbled on news that US investment bank Bear Stearns had to be bailed out by the Federal Reserve. From rate cuts to bailouts, the central bank's attempts to cushion the falling financial sector are actually making things worse...

The Telegraph: Foreign investors veto Fed rescue

"The imminent risk is that global flight from US Treasury and agency debt drives up long-term rates, the key funding instrument for mortgages and corporations. The effect could outweigh Fed easing."

The Fed has ran out of ammo.

OneStopView Blog: How long has an Housing Price Crash been on the cards for?

It’s usually a topic that from one day to the next sways from prices on the surge to prices are on a free fall. So, what should we beleive in 2008? Ok, prices have been rising since around 1997 under the labour government and despite a few panics on growth stopping, prices have week in and week out increased with new average house prices going up and up. Today, nearly all young first time buyers are priced totally out of the market and usually are taking on mortgages that are tying them into 50 years on figures that if their circumstances change they could find themselves in a serious situation financially. So, is a price crash on the cards? I believe so as

Times online: Bear Stearns rescue sinks global markets

London shares dropped almost 150 points in early trading today as investors around the world feared the sale of US investment bank Bear Stearns has triggered a dramatic worsening of the credit crunch crisis.

Telegraph: Shares tumble as Fed battles inplosion

The FTSE 100 slumped, the dollar tumbled and stock markets across the world were left reeling after the Federal Reserve unveiled new measures designed to prevent a meltdown in global financial markets and Bear Stearns was sold at a knockdown price.

Market Oracle: Derivatives Dominos Start Falling Threatening Collapse of the Shadow Banking System

Other titles posted on market oracle

Gold: The Leading Indicator of Systemic Financial Collapse
US Banking System in a Vicious Circle Ending In Systemic Financial Meltdown
Over Leveraged Hedge Funds Dancing with the Devil
The Road to Hyperinflation- Vive La France!
Central Banks $2.5 Trillion Money Supply Fails to Stop Global Deleveraging -
Beware a Parabolic Rise Culminates in Market Crash

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 09:30 AM 42 Comments

Guardian: America was conned - who will pay?

"... a way had to be found to persuade households to do their patriotic duty. The method chosen was simple. Whip up a colossal housing bubble, convince consumers that it makes sense to borrow money against the rising value of their homes to supplement their meagre real wage growth and watch the profits roll in."

Posted by quiet guy @ 09:18 AM 6 Comments

Bloomberg: Pound Falls Most in Six Years Against Euro, Reaches Record Low

Britain's currency also dropped versus the dollar and fell to a three-year low against the yen after the Fed cut the rate a quarter-percentage point to 3.25 percent in its first weekend emergency action since 1979 ...........WHY???????????????????

Posted by bystander @ 09:08 AM 17 Comments

OneStopView Blog: Will the UK Property market Crash, Part II ?

I have now just read on the BBC news website that Polish people are now leaving the UK in their thousands cause pay is now better in their home country. This could prove to be another fatal nail in the coffin of house prices in the UK.

OneStopView Blog: The sliding value of the pound has affected purchasing property abroad?

The value of the pound has been sinking like a stone in water. I remember the sterling against the Euro was 1.49 in September 2007, but we now see in March 2008 it at 1.29 which may not seem a lot, but figures here will prove otherwise: House of €300,000 costs £201,342 in September 2007 House of €300,000 costs £232,558 in March 2008 That is a £31,000 difference in just over 6 months which has persuaded some potential UK purchasers of property in Europe to sit and wait.

Bloomberg: Dollar Doomsayers Draw Signs From Bernanke Rate Cuts

"Ben Bernanke's interest-rate cuts have touched off a vicious circle of doom for the dollar".

Reuters: Fed takes emergency steps to help financial system

The U.S. Federal Reserve on Sunday announced emergency measures to stem a fast-spreading global financial crisis, tapping tools last used in the Great Depression to pour funds into cash-starved Wall Street firms. The Fed cut the discount rate it charges on direct loans to banks to 3.25 percent from 3.50 percent and set up a new program to provide cash to a wider range of big financial firms previously unable to borrow directly from the central bank. I doubt this move will work.

Posted by who stole my pension? @ 05:56 AM 10 Comments

Guardian: Sold for just $2 a share - the bank worth $140bn last week

A suitable end for one of the banks that caused this mess! 98% down in just a week. Similar to the depreciation on those Manchester 2 bed flats.

Posted by who stole my pension? @ 05:47 AM 15 Comments

Marketwatch: J.P. Morgan to buy Bear Stearns for $2 a share

Apparently Bear Stearns, which was trading at $160 last year, is worth but $2 today. Mind you, it's a stock deal and I can see JP Morgan's getting crushed on this news, so maybe it isn't even worth that. What price Lehmans, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch??? The dollar is crumbling, gold is up $20. Maybe we should be careful what we wish for?

Bloomberg: JPMorgan Buys Bear Stearns for $2 a Share After Clients Flee

If a deal was ever in doubt more manipulation to calm the markets.

Bloomberg: Fed Cuts Discount Rate, Says Dealers May Borrow

The Federal Reserve reduced the rate on direct loans to commercial banks by a quarter-point and said it will allow primary dealers to borrow at the rate in exchange for a ``broad range'' of investment-grade collateral.

Bloomberg: Bear Stearns, JPMorgan Strive for Sale, People Say

Bear Stearns Cos. executives were striving today to strike an agreement to sell the crippled securities firm to JPMorgan Chase & Co. before financial markets open in Asia, people with knowledge of the talks said.

findaproperty: Studio flat for sale in London W11 - 100000GBP

100000 GBP for a garage (studio flat) – reminds me of 1989 all over again

Posted by bystander @ 10:16 PM 6 Comments

independent online: Secret Agent: 'People would rather pull their own teeth than put their house on the market now'

"Even he is capable of working out that sales figures can only be improved if there's something there to sell, yet when people are about as keen to put their house on the market as they are to remove their own wisdom teeth, it's not easy."

Times Online: Phil Spencer: How to fight your way out of a housing market slowdown

Phill Location Location advocates S2R and suggests that houses are 20% overvalued in this article.

Scotland on Sunday: Teresa Hunter: We're all going to end up sharing Wall Street's pain

Teresa has seen it all before and reminds us of a few lessons from recent history. After the 1980's property crash in the states when the entire US mortgage industry went bankrupt many learned to make as much money as possible while the music is playing and get out with their pile before the government calls in the taxpayer to bail it all out.

Bloomberg: Bear Stearns, JPMorgan Aim to Strike Sale Agreement, People Say

Bear Stearns Cos. executives were striving today to strike an agreement to sell the crippled securities firm to JPMorgan Chase & Co. before trading resumes tomorrow, people with knowledge of the talks said.

Reuters: Danish banks reportedly criticise govt support for N. Rock

LONDON (Reuters) - Danish banks have written to the European Commission to complain about the "unfair competitive advantage" which they say government support gives nationalised UK lender Northern Rock, the Sunday Times reported. The company offers savings accounts to Danish investors through Northern Rock Denmark.

Independent: Wall Street fears for next Great Depression

You heard it here long ago. Great depressions are a natural result of debt fuelled fiat currency. They happen every 80yrs or so to re-set the debt levels once they get too high. Protect your assets, batten down the hatches. Difference this time is that people have access to information beyond the vested interest media and can understand that the financial system itself is the issue. This has nothing to do with politics, economics, anything of any tangible value. It is a design fault of the system. Expect the establishment to react violently to lie their way out of this. But there is nobody to blame except for them, and they have known this would happen all along.

Posted by planning4acrash @ 07:58 PM 16 Comments

Telegraph: A world addicted to easy credit must go cold turkey

Alistair Darling's Budget-day boast that Britain is well placed to cope with this turmoil was irrefutable proof of his intellectual bankruptcy. I'm afraid so. Here in the United Kingdom we have been living a similar dream. Unable to fund all spending ambitions from income, too many Britons have cashed in part of their bricks and mortar for a blast of instant gratification.

Posted by doomwatch @ 06:43 PM 7 Comments

BigPicture Blog: 'Remain Calm! All Is Well!'

As today's Times disgusting housing market ramping and last week's BS bank collapse shows, one needs to be very careful about what one believes. "Within a couple of days after Bear Stearns Cos. (BSC) swore up and down that it didn't have any liquidity problems, it admitted Friday morning that it had a liquidity problem. This despite the fact that Bear had insisted all week that its liquidity wasn't at risk, persistent market rumors notwithstanding. The company said Monday there was "absolutely no truth" to the rumors. On Wednesday, Chief Executive Alan Schwartz said, "Our liquidity position has not changed at all. Our balance sheet has not weakened at all." As they used to say on "The X-Files': Trust no one." "

Bloomberg.com: Paulson Says He'll `Do What It Takes' to Calm Markets

``Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, defending the bailout of Bear Stearns Cos., said policy makers will do whatever is needed to prevent disruptions in financial markets from hurting the economy.'' ``The government is prepared to do what it takes to maintain the stability of our financial system,'' Paulson told the ``Fox News Sunday'' television program in Washington today. ``Our focus, our No. 1 priority, is the stability of our financial system.''

Posted by trough2010 @ 05:26 PM 7 Comments

thisismoney: Investors suffer as buy-to-let backfires

All 49 flats in this block in Manchester are owned by amateur investors - 37 of them thanks to one property club. Now it is feared that their value has slumped by HALF - or worse - in four years. "two-bedroom flats it said were worth £140,000 and likely to attract up to £650 a month in rent. It is not known what the properties are worth today, but a two-bedroom flat in the development failed to sell at auction in December for a guide price of £70,000. The flat is now let for £425 a month."

Posted by housing carbuncle @ 03:46 PM 14 Comments

BBC News: Rock guarantees charity donations

The charitable arm of Northern Rock has increased its grants budget by £4m following the bank's nationalisation. But isnt this payed for indirectly by the tax payer?

Bloomberg: Bear Stearns Bailout Was `Finger in the Dike,' Historians Say

Ever since Treasury Secretary William Gibbs McAdoo shut the New York Stock Exchange for four months in 1914, to prevent foreign investors from cashing out and throwing the U.S. into financial chaos at the outset of World War I, American policy makers routinely have suspended their support for free markets when confronted by economic peril.

CNNMoney.com: Caution: Crumbling Wall Street earnings ahead

Far from winding down, as some of the optimistic had predicted last year, the credit crisis has engulfed even more sectors of the financial services industry since the start of 2008. Investors now are second-guessing the value of debt backed by student loans, municipal bonds, commercial real estate and even mortgages issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. On top of this, the trading of leveraged loans, a popular way for companies with weak credit ratings to finance the high-flying corporate buyouts of recent years, has lost its appeal. "Clearly the business has deteriorated pretty significantly in just the last couple of months," Lucky we've got such Strong Fundamentals in the UK then !

Times: Costs and red tape take the shine off investing in property the UK

Not seen so many badly disguised advertisement pieces in a long time. we are nearing the market collapse. I am posting more links in a comment. They say "The buy-to-let market is thriving, but too risky for most newcomers" but what does that really mean?

Posted by confused76 @ 11:30 AM 15 Comments

Times: Is it still possible to make money from property?

If you believe the headlines, now does not seem the most obvious time to be investing in property. Try telling that to Eric Potts. Since 2002 he has amassed an £8m portfolio of 41 properties, and is considering a 42nd. “There is always money in property,” he says. “You just have to feel in your stomach that it’s a good deal." Stuart Law, managing director of Assetz says Britain's long-term inability to build enough houses to satisfy demand will, over time, push prices back up. He would still consider buying in cities such as Manchester. “All new schemes in Manchester have ceased,” he says. “At some point in the future, there will be a dire shortage of city-centre flats.”

Posted by little professor @ 11:28 AM 13 Comments

Wall Street Journal: Debt Reckoning: U.S. Receives a Margin Call

Nothing new here, just an excellent piece of journalism of where we are now in the bad debt problem. Rather than be surprised about the dollar's fall this is just payback for more than a decade of trade and budget deficits. I know some contributors to this site expect a $ rebound but seen in this light that seems unlikely. "Many U.S. hedge funds and financial institutions were speculating in mortgage-related securities with money that was ultimately borrowed in Japan, where interest rates have been low for years... As investments bought with money borrowed in Japan get sold and converted back into yen, we see both a fall in asset prices and a fall in the dollar."

BBC News: Car depreciation rates worsening

This article points out that resale value of cars has dropped substantially. Cars, normally being sellable in an emergency, are a -main asset- for many(probably the only big family asset). Posted because the small things give the game away i.e. there is a flight to cash not just by hedge funds. The accompanying video shows a Saab which lost two thirds of value in a year, one third of sale price being an additional drop since last year. Evidence of Japanese style deflation coming in the UK after the inflationary blip.

Burning Our Money: Anti-discrimination blow-back

Political correctness led to weakening of lending standards

Daily Mail: Spurs fears as US bank shares dive

"The club's British owner Joe Lewis lost more than £1bn (£500m) when the value of the investment bank crashed last week. Mr Lewis last year bought 11m of the bank's shares for a total of $1.1bn (£550m)." Now all of those shrewd deals are looking stupid.

Times: Opening bids: the Government is in a fix - one of 25 years

This housing bubble has already brought down some international banks and threatens the world economy, but the Times is still talking it up. This housing bubble forces first time buyers into a life-time of debt, but the Times is still talking it up. Do they have no sense of journalistic responsiblity?

Posted by happyrenterz @ 10:17 AM 8 Comments

The Observer: 10,000 face axe as City panic spreads

Good news for London Property prices then....

The Telegraph: Property market: A spring recovery

This is a slighy cheesy upbeat article, saying yes, things are down a bit, but its ok because some buyers are coming back. I have posted a comment on the have you says bit saying it is over optimistic and that prices are actually down 10% already. I also know some agents and mortgage brokers covering prime properties, and actually all is not well. There dare not say this to clients for fear of frightening the sheep, but after a few beers the real concerns do come out.

Telegraph: Countrywide in a state over distressed debt

Apollo Management, could be forced to pump millions of pounds of cash into Countrywide, Britain's biggest chain of estate agents, in a bid to shore up its investment in the group. One trader said: "Countrywide's senior debt is trading at 67p in the pound and the bonds are 51p in the pound. The big discount is because traders believe the company will need more cash from the sponsor if the housing market continues to deteriorate. There are also concerns in the market over the performance of Foxtons. Oh dear, oh dear! What a shame, let them share in the misery that they have sown.

Posted by who stole my pension? @ 06:12 AM 9 Comments

timesonline: UK tycoon Joe Lewis loses $800m on Wall Street

In Britain, nerves could be set on edge if the February inflation figures – also due out on Tuesday – show a decisive rise above 2.5%, from 2.2% in January. While Mervyn King, the Bank of England governor, has primed the markets to expect a significant rise in inflation in the coming months, any sign that it was moving higher at an unacceptable pace would be seen as limiting the Bank’s room for manoeuvre on interest rates. …………….anyone honestly believe Crash and Darling are going to allow the release of the true rate of inflation?????

Posted by bystander @ 01:47 AM 18 Comments

Moneysupermarket.com: UNITED TRUST BANK - 6 Months Fixed Deposit Account 6.87%

Our Company United Trust Bank (“UTB”) specialises in providing a wide range of funding facilities to property developers. As an owner managed business with specialist expertise in the property sector, United Trust Bank can take an entrepreneurial and pragmatic approach, providing quick and flexible funding for property developments in the form of senior debt, mezzanine and equity to support sound development projects. No? I thought not.

Fool: The Buy-To-Let Boom Isn't Over Yet

Here's a counter-argument to the usual HPC news that we post here. Anybody care to demolish these arguments? "In January Paragon reported that rents were rising at their fastest rate on record - up 19% in 2007 and 8% in the last quarter alone. --- Demand from students and immigrants remains strong, and first-time buyers who fear a crash (or are no longer eligible for a competitive mortgage deal) are renting instead. --- Due to the credit crunch, repossessions are on the up, which means there is greater potential to snap up a bargain, especially at a property auction. --- The buy-to-let boom is probably not quite over yet. In a few years' time, I expect some investors will still be wringing their hands with glee, rather than despair."

Posted by drewster @ 09:08 PM 27 Comments

The Times: HBOS raises £750m of new capital in a bid to beat credit crunch

HBOS has raised £750m of new capital at a staggering interest rate of almost 9.5%, in a clear sign of the funding crisis facing the world’s banks

timesonline: Inflation fears could keep interest rates on hold

The question I have is haw low will the pound be allowed to go.When I moved to France the exchange rate was about 1.5 Euros to the pound,now its about 1.25.Does anyone think it will be allowed to fall below the Euro.Also,interest rates in the UK are higher and the BOE havn't reduced them much so why is the pound falling? .......anyone with any realistic and backed-up predictions??????

Posted by bystander @ 07:56 PM 7 Comments

Yahoo Biz: Avoid Overcorrecting Economy, Bush Warns

"Many young couples trying to buy their first home have been priced out of the market because of inflated prices," the president said. "The market now is in the process of correcting itself, and delaying that correction would only prolong the problem."

Posted by happyrenterz @ 07:31 PM 10 Comments

Telegraph: Ambrose's take on Bear Stearns

Bear Stearns exposed as a bank saddled with toxic sub-prime debt

FT: Few ‘Welcome home’ signs

"Property experts and mortgage brokers condemned the lack of action to re-establish stability in the housing market" The latest wave of fatuous nonsense emanating from the credit crunch. It's a bit like when children wonder why everything can't be free. The VIs just want central banks or govt to bail out everyone. Maybe this financial crisis will be noteworthy for a record number of stupid pontifications.

Guardian: Squeeze is on, but deals are still out there

"Life is undoubtedly getting harder for the army of amateur landlords who have turned to bricks and mortar as an alternative to investing in a pension. Falling property prices and a clampdown on mortgage lending have dealt a blow to the buy-to-let market, with some landlords now finding it increasingly difficult to make the numbers add up. But this ill wind is blowing some good their way. The very factors buffeting them are also putting the squeeze on wannabe first-time buyers, forcing many of them to continue renting." This is called "race to the bottom" and I cannot logically understand how a general liquidity squeeze (affecting disposable incone) can benefit landlords

Council of Mortgage lenders: CML Research identifies opportunities for UK equity release market

The current credit bubble is like a drug. The addicts are now searching for other ways to get their next fix. I have maintained constantly that the mechanism of money does not work with interest being charged. This is another way in which money can be borrowed and bring about a collapse in the workings of money finally.

Telegraph: Budget 2008: Alistair Darling's optimism under fire after Bear Stearns bailout

On Wednesday Alistair Darling took a very optimistic view about how well Britain was prepared for the economic slowdown. Now, just two days later you see how difficult things are likely to become and we see what a mistake Gordon Brown make in not putting anything aside for a rainy day

Telegraph: Bear Stearns crisis may force US Fed to slash rates again

The Federal Reserve could cut interest rates by more than one percentage point in a bid to stabilise financial markets in the wake of Bear Stearns' collapse. At its scheduled meeting next Tuesday the Federal Open Markets Committee is expected to slash its base lending rate in order to lift the economy out of recession and alleviate the problems of the credit crisis

FT: Financial system must tap the taxpayer

US could suffer a deep and protracted recession like Japan. House prices are in free-fall, spreading losses through mortgage-backed securities and making it difficult for financial markets to stabilise. The US labour market is cracking, with three consecutive months of job losses in the private sector. Consumer spending is faltering. Financial markets have taken another lurch downward – triggering Fed emergency responses. A “financial accelerator” is taking hold as banks react to losses by pulling back on their capital at risk, intensifying the credit crunch and aggravating the economic downturn. Interest rate cuts have been largely offset by the rise in risk spreads. The challenge is to stop the financial accelerator. This requires additional capital from the tax man

Posted by who stole my pension? @ 06:24 AM 7 Comments

Guardian: Where does buy-to-let go from here?

A flat was to be this woman's pension. Now she is trapped by negative equity and soaring costs. It was never a get-rich-quick scheme - I accepted I would have to wait before gaining," she says. Connells would not comment on the gap between its valuation and Judith's experience but stated: "The valuation was by a qualified chartered surveyor and would have been supported by appropriate market evidence."

Posted by mken @ 04:22 AM 17 Comments

Telegraph: Property Market - the word on the street

The prospects for the housing market are as bad as they have been for almost two decades. What's to prevent us following in America's wake? Very little, as it happens. Our house prices are, in fact, even more overvalued; we are more highly indebted; our interest rates are even higher than in the US. One section of the market - new-build buy-to-let in places like Manchester and Leeds - is already facing a price crash. I don't buy the argument that the chronic shortage of new housing will stop prices from plummeting. Even taking this into account, our property market is significantly overvalued. Prices will continue to fall, and it won't be pretty.

Telegraph Online: Bear Stearns crisis could hit UK banks

Funding costs for British banks are expected to soar in the wake of Bear Stearns' near-collapse, worsening the credit crunch and potentially pushing up the cost of lending. Credit spreads for UK banks widened yesterday, providing clear evidence that they are now judged to be higher risk.

Posted by inthedelhi @ 01:26 AM 17 Comments

FT: Lenders Pull Out of Mortgage Deals

No one wants to lend money. Top of the mortgage best buy table - forget it - the battle for mid table obscurity is on.

FT.com: Doors slam on mortgage deals

Great quote from this article: “Borrowers need to understand . . . they need to move quickly to secure a rate. If they dither – even by only a few hours – they should be prepared to be disappointed.”

Telegraph: Stearns crisis sparks UK recession fears

Millions of British households face soaring mortgage rates and tumbling house prices after the global financial crisis triggered the near-collapse of one of the world's biggest banks.

Posted by enuii @ 10:16 PM 10 Comments

Bloomberg: Money-Market Rates May Rise After Bear Stearns Rescue

``This is going to increase the reluctance of banks to lend to each other,'' said Nick Stamenkovic, a strategist at RIA Capital Markets in Edinburgh. ``It means that the funding crisis in money markets is going to intensify. The fact that Bear Stearns has had to be bailed out by the Fed clearly increases concern about which other banks are in serious trouble.

Bloomberg: Harvard's Feldstein Says U.S. Economy in Recession

``I believe the U.S. economy is now in recession,'' Feldstein, president of the National Bureau of Economic Research, told the Futures Industry Association conference in Boca Raton, Florida. ``Could this become the worst recession we have seen in the post-war period? I think the answer is yes.

Bloomberg: Borrowers Find What Citigroup Says Isn't What It Does

Real estate developer John Wimmer paid Citigroup Global Markets Realty Corp. almost $1 million last year to lock in a 5.6 percent mortgage rate on the refinancing of six commercial properties. At the November closings, Citigroup, citing plummeting demand for mortgage bonds, boosted the rate to 7.123 percent. ``I was very upset,'' Wimmer said in a phone interview from his office in Hales Corners, Wisconsin. ``We had many proposals to lock the rate with other financial institutions and we picked Citigroup because of their reputation and strength.'' Wimmer sued. So did a developer in Kentucky after Prudential Mortgage Capital Co. invoked the ``material adverse change'' clause in their loan agreement to raise his rate.

reuters: Cash converter won't mark bottom

The list of things that haven't changed is long, and includes the fact that house prices in the United States are still falling, will keep falling for a long time and will destroy much more capital in the process. Richard Syron, who as chief executive of Freddie Mac is at the epicentre of the housing and debt bust, was truly pessimistic in an appearance before investors and analysts on Wednesday. It is an "extraordinary environment in housing finance ... really about the worst housing market in about a century," Syron said. "It's not incorrect to say we are in a 100-year storm in the housing industry and we have to treat it as such."

bbc news: Financial crises: Lessons from history

A brief reprise of financial crashes from to 1866 to the Dot.com crash

Telegraph: Bear Stearns shares crash as credit crisis snares biggest US victim

Bear Stearns one of the most venerable names on wall street has run out of the liquid stuff (cash) and anybody with funds held in Bear Stearns will be clamouring to transfer them out ala Northern Rock.

Bloomberg: Subprime Losses Reach $195 Billion; German Banks Get Hit: (Table)

The following table shows the $195 billion in asset writedowns and credit losses since the beginning of 2007, including reserves set aside for bad loans, at more than 45 of the world's biggest banks and securities firms. German banks reporting earnings this week said they had further losses.

Big Picture: New High Rise Townhouses

Posted by happyrenterz @ 04:34 PM 9 Comments

Citywire: Fed policy is 'hopeless’ says top US equity manager Mouté

As the US dollar hit an all time low against the euro one of the best performing US equity managers available in Europe, AAA-rated François Mouté, has laid into the US authorities. ‘The way Bernanke is running the country’s economy is disappointing,’ he says. ‘What is happening to the US dollar is a testimony to how wrong Bernanke has been.’

BBC News: Bear Stearns gets emergency funds

A big hitter goes running to the fed to stay solvent, and still people in the UK don't understand whats about to happen, they're still trying to work out how we'll all be saved by our chancellors plastic bag trick.

MoneyWeek: Bank bailouts: helping or hindering?

If only the G7 would sit back and let the failed banks fail. A report from the World Bank suggests that the Fed, the ECB and the Bank of England are all prolonging the current crisis with their intervention.

Yahoo Biz: JPMorgan Chase, With Federal Reserve Bank of NY, to Provide Funding to Bear Stearns

"The federal government and JPMorgan Chase & Co. teamed up on a bailout of Bear Stearns Cos. on Friday, a last-ditch move to save the investment bank, which acknowledged its dire financial straits after a week of firm denials."

BBC: Ex-pit town 'has cheapest homes'

The average house price in Oxford Street in the former coal mining town of South Elmsall is £25,600, according a property website. Tower Green in the St Hilda's area of Middlesbrough, which is being demolished, came in second place, with the average home worth £27,400. In third place is Warwick Street, South Bank, Middlesbrough, at £28,000. Mouseprice.com based its research on Land Registry house prices.

Hubber.com: Subprime hits Japan

Finally something funny is this whole subprime mess.

CNBC: Jim Rogers: 'Abolish the Fed'

"Asked what he would do if he were in Bernanke's shoes, Rogers, who slammed the Fed for pouring liquidity in the system and accepting mortgage-backed securities as guarantees, said: "I would abolish the Federal Reserve and I would resign." "No country in the world has ever succeeded by debasing its currency," he said. "That's what this man is trying to do. He's trying to debase the currency as a way to revive America. It has never worked in the long term or the medium term." "Listen, investment banks have been going bankrupt since the beginning of time. If people make mistakes -- if you bail out every investment bank that gets in trouble, that's not capitalism, that's socialism for the rich," he said."

Posted by happyrenterz @ 01:29 PM 13 Comments

MoneyWeek: Why $1,000 an ounce isn't the peak for gold

Gold touched a nominal record high of $1,000 an ounce yesterday, and crude oil hit a high of $111. So why the ongoing surge? It's all down to the dollar, which has been setting some records of its own this week.

Citywire: City loses ardent bear as Tony Dye, prophet of the tech collapse, dies

Tony Dye, who as chief investment officer at Phillips & Drew in the 1990's, bucked the herd to predict the collapse of technology stocks, has died from cancer aged 60. He remained a bear until the end predicting in letters to newspapers from retirement that house prices could fall by up to 30% by 2009. The recent turmoil in the US housing market may again show that his predictions ultimately come true. One of his final predictions will stick in the throats of many investors: 'We don't have soft landings in things like this, ever,' he said.

The Telegraph: Hank Paulson urges banks 'raise more cash' as credit crisis deepens

Mr Paulson told the National Press Club. "We need those institutions to continue to lend and facilitate economic growth."

This says that growth is entirely dependent on ever expanding debt.

NZ Herald: Housing Slump in NZ

Thought this blog would be interesting. NZ house prices have fallen significantly (3-5%) over the past 6 months, now virtually flat year on year (-ve in Auckland). Quite heated debate in the blog, I was doing my best to spread the reality that yes indeed the most overpriced housing market in the world is going down the gurgler. Logic v brainwashed rhetoric best sums up the discussion.

The Telegraph: Dollar plunge sets off global alarm bells

USD touched a record $1.5620 against the euro. In the US, crude oil reached a record $111 a barrel despite rising inventories

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 08:51 AM 19 Comments

findaproperty.com: Sub-Prime Lending: The Beginning Of The End?

"Rising energy, petrol and food costs are forcing consumers to tighten their belts, while reliance on increasingly expensive unsecured credit as a safety net is becoming more common. "Although growing numbers of borrowers are set to slip into sub-prime borrower status, the market shows no signs of being able to satisfy this heightened demand."

BBC online: 30 years of gold highs and lows

Gold goes more and more mainstream the more new highs are reached, causing more awareness in the general public and in fund manager circles causing further purchasing and further increases in the price. George Soros calls it "reflexivity"; price increases leading to further price increases in a self-reinforcing feedback loop, these don't go on forever however. I expect more and more columns of print will be devoted to the precious metals story then at x point in the future it will dive, not before all the subprime dross is cleared out of the system and confidence returns to the credit markets and the world economy, then the first shoots of the next property boom will commence.

The Times: Carlyle Capital Corporation: commentary

'No one can complain that they weren’t warned. The implosion of Carlyle Capital Corporation is a spectacular failure, probably the most damaging to sentiment in credit markets since Northern Rock. But this time all those closely involved were consenting adults. Those who read the prospectus for the company had no doubt about its potentially precarious nature. You lose count of the number of references to “leverage without limit”. Never mind the eye-popping 32 times gearing CCC opted for. There was nothing in the company rules to prevent it leveraging up 320 times.'

CNN: Getting in on the gold rush

CNN joins in the gold-ramping by telling people how to join in the latest craze. This is just another speculative bubble - the money went from tech stocks into real estate and now on to metals. The current gold price is being driven up by investors purely on the expectation that prices will rise even further. This is the hallmark of a mania-driven bubble. The goldbugs deserve to get burnt every bit as much as the greedy BTLers who fell for the Inside Track "prices only ever go up" nonsense. Now let's hear what s2r has to say :p

Posted by little professor @ 01:04 AM 29 Comments

Bloomberg: Bernanke Playbook Gives Hints on Fed's Next Moves

"So, brace yourself for a Fed funds rate close to zero, interest-rate-free loans in exchange for a much wider range of debt collateral, and further dollar weakness. And, if Helicopter Ben sticks to the script, the Fed might even guarantee the value of two-year Treasury notes. Strange days indeed."

Bloomberg: U.K. Inflation Outlook Highest Since at Least 1999

"Today's report also showed waning approval for the central bank among consumers. A net 30 percent of respondents said they were satisfied with the way the bank is ``doing its job to set interest rates to control inflation,'' the lowest result since May 2000." Economy to grow less than rate of inflation this year.

Telegraph: Michael Jackson's family seek Devon hideaway

The family of Michael Jackson, the pop star, may move to Devon to escape the media spotlight. The singer's older brother Tito, a judge in the BBC One duet contest Just The Two Of Us, has spent the weekend house hunting in the town of Barnstaple in the West Country. "We hope it will be a family hideaway where my brothers and sisters can escape the media attention when we need to," the actor told the North Devon Gazette newspaper.

Posted by tyrellcorporation @ 06:49 PM 9 Comments

Mortgagestrategy: BUY-TO-LET SUMMIT 2008: Optimistic outlook for B2L

Speaking at the Four Seasons Hotel in Fleet, Hampshire, Michael Ball, professor of urban and property economics at Reading University, outlined a raft of figures and reports that give cause for optimism for buy-to-let landlords and lenders. He says: “The long term prospects for the buy-to-let sector are extremely good. Buy-to-let investors are in a good position. Rental demand tends to do well in a market slowdown. “There are no signs of this much vaunted meltdown of buy-to-let.”

Posted by jack c @ 06:26 PM 17 Comments

The Australian: Mortgage pain spreading to affluent

Got to love the last line "Mortgage broker numbers are tipped to halve from 10,000 to 5000 in the next two years. " For each 0.25% hike in base IR's the banks are upping by 0.35%. The banks are also raising rates independantly.

FT: Inflation expectations reach record levels

Public expectations of future inflation have reached the highest level on record according to a BoE survey; this will make the BoE reluctant to cut interest rates. People thought prices had risen 3.9 per cent over the last year and nearly a third thought the current inflation rate was higher than 5 per cent. Opps does nobody believe Darling's CPI figure of 2.1%? Despite market expectations that the BoE will lower interest rates over the next year, 43 per cent of respondents thought interest rates would rise.

timesonline: How to refresh your garden and add £50,000 to your home

As house prices wobble, how can you add value to yours? George Franks, the head of estate agents Douglas and Gordon in Clapham, South London, says: “A cracking south-facing garden can increase a property's value by between 2 and 10 per cent. If you have two houses worth £800,000, the one with a garden will cost £50,000 more.” .........................flobba lob a lob, little weed: said Gordon .........................flobba lob a lob, replied Darling

Posted by bystander @ 04:35 PM 12 Comments

Independent: Dollar falls to record low against euro

"Fears that stresses in credit markets and the world economy as a whole are deteriorating despite central bank help hit financial markets today, sinking global stocks and sending the dollar tumbling. The dollar hit another record low against the euro and fell below 100 Japanese yen for the first time in 12 years", Gold rose.

Bloomberg: Oil Rises to a Record $111 on Weak Dollar,

Crude oil rose to a record $111 a barrel in New York as the sinking value of the dollar attracted investors to commodity markets and a government report showed that U.S. natural-gas supplies fell. The dollar dropped below 100 yen earlier today for the first time since 1995 and declined to a record low against the euro after a Carlyle Group fund moved closer to collapse. Supplies of natural gas, a competing fuel, fell 86 billion cubic feet to 1.398 trillion cubic feet last week, the Energy Department said.

Posted by tyrellcorporation @ 03:27 PM 6 Comments

Bloomberg: Berkeley Forecasts Profit at the Top End of Estimates

Berkeley Group Holdings Plc, the U.K.'s fourth-largest homebuilder, said annual results will be at the top end of analyst estimates, helped by sustained demand in the London market. Berkeley exited high-volume homebuilding, betting that high levels of employment and a vibrant London economy would sustain demand for its apartment blocks that typically sport cafes and gyms. - So what's the plan now Berkeley?

Bloomberg: U.S. Home Defaults, Foreclosures Rise 60% in February

U.S. home foreclosure filings jumped 60 percent and bank seizures more than doubled in February as rates on adjustable mortgages rose and property owners were unable to sell or refinance amid falling prices.

The Cornishman: TWO-BEDROOM SEMI WITH A BEACH VIEW - YOURS FOR £1M

Property prices in Cornwall look set to withstand the effects of a global credit crunch with a two-bedroom semi-detached house in St Ives valued at a cool £1 million.But Russian oligarchs with a few spare rubles and City whiz-kids whose end-of-year bonuses are burning a hole in their pocket will need to be quick.The house next door has already been sold for a six-figure sum - a quarter of a million above its original asking price. With a balcony overlooking Porthmeor beach and a private entrance to its own beach-level shower and toilet, the lucky owners will be able to walk straight from the beach into their own home. And once the sand has been washed out of their hair they can sit on the balcony, cocktail in hand, and take in the breathtaking view across the golden sands....

Bloomberg: Gold Trades at $1,000 an Ounce in New York on Demand for Haven

Gold traded at $1,000 an ounce in New York and rose to a record in London on speculation credit- market turmoil will spur demand for the metal as a haven from declines in stocks and the dollar. Silver, platinum and palladium also advanced as the dollar fell below 100 yen for the first time since 1995 and to a record low against the euro after a Carlyle Group fund moved closer to collapse. Gold climbed 19 percent this year as the dollar fell and world equity markets declined.

guardian: Borrowing costs rise despite base rate cuts

The cost of borrowing £1,000 through a personal loan has risen by 4.5% since last March, as the credit crunch has forced lenders to increase interest rates, latest figures show.

TIMESONLINE: Carlyle Capital banks to seize $16bn in assets

Carlyle Capital Corporation (CCC), the Dutch-listed affiliate of US private equity firm Carlyle, admitted today it is likely to be liquidated after failing to reach an agreement with its lenders. Talks between the Guernsey-based company and its bankers fell apart yesterday and the company announced last night the failure to rescue the firm. Efforts to rescue the company, which has defaulted on $16 billion of debt, have failed and the company has been unable to prevent its bankers from seizing the assets. "The company expects that its lenders will promptly take possession of substantially all of the Company’s remaining assets,"

BBC News: The "new" homeless in the US

Globolisation of the third world?

MoneyWeek: The truth about buy-to-let investment clubs

Over the past few years, as UK property prices have soared, buy-to-let investment groups such as Inside Track have proliferated. But are they helping investors as much as they say they are? No...

MoneyWeek: Why Britain can’t weather a global recession

If you had watched the Budget yesterday without knowing anything else about life in Britain, you might have been convinced that this is the place to be if global recession hits. Sadly, it isn't, says John Stepek.

Posted by damien @ 11:09 AM 6 Comments

BBC: Soaring pay lures Poles back home

The long hours and low wages eventually took their toll, and she decided to head home.

Posted by doomwatch @ 09:59 AM 29 Comments

Money Morning: Dear Ben: To Save the U.S. Economy, Here Are the Moves You Need to Make Now

"The fruit picker in Southern California making $17,500 a year who reportedly "qualified" for a $700,000 adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) should receive a "stupidity premium" on his next tax return and the mortgage representatives who handled and processed the paperwork should be prosecuted in criminal court for predatory lending - if not for "credit-rating homicide.""

BBC "News": France's sordid housing crisis

Well, Dithering Darling has done absolutely nothing for first time buyers, and insists that their broken statistics are valid. This kind of thing is therefore inevitable. I'm quite sure the Labour government will make this kind of thing a requirement in fact as part of some initiative to get low income workers accommodated.

Bloomberg: Dollar Falls to 12-Year Low of 100 Yen on Carlyle Fund Failure

The dollar fell to the weakest since 1995 against the yen, to below 100 yen, and a record low versus the euro after a Carlyle Group fund moved closer to collapse, triggering concern of more turmoil in financial markets. The dollar was close to parity with the Swiss franc and slumped against the British pound after Carlyle said lenders will take over the assets of its mortgage-bond fund and President George W. Bush acknowledged the U.S. currency's decline was not ``good tidings.'' ``Investors are getting out of dollar assets and this is going to lead to a dollar crash,'' said Tetsuhisa Hayashi, chief currency manager of foreign-exchange trading in Tokyo at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd., a unit of Japan's largest publicly traded lender. ``The U.S. economy is getting worse.''

The Telegraph: US mortgage implosion set to blow Darling's Budget to pieces

Washington is exploring - and now invoking - measures that have not been on the agenda since the Great Depression, and for a good reason. House prices fell 9.1pc last year. Goldman Sachs fears a 25pc fall from peak to trough, others go as far as 40pc. Some 8.8m US homeowners already face negative equity on their houses, yet the crash is still gathering pace.

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 08:56 AM 61 Comments

Guardian: Revamped scheme will allow key workers and first-time buyers to get on property ladder by taking out 50% mortgages

"the government has launched an initiative allowing teachers, nurses and others to take out a mortgage for as little as 50% of the cost of the property they are buying. The remainder of the purchase would be funded via an "equity loan" of up to 50% of the price, with half of the money for this coming from the government and the other half coming from a consortium of eight housing associations. The individual will have to pay interest on the equity loan from day one, though this "rent" will initially be set at only 1.75% per annum, rising to RPI inflation plus 1%. " Does anyone understand this crazy scheme? Who owns the house in the end?

Posted by happyrenterz @ 08:46 AM 19 Comments

The Telegraph: The Fed's in a desperate race with spectre of collapse

We have not seen anything like it since the decade of the Great Depression. Melodramatic as that might sound, it is a fact but a fact that markets seem unwilling to accept. While the Fed is willing to slash rates and hope, and pump liquidity into the system, markets will remain optimistic. But it is a race to the bottom. The Fed hoping it reaches the finishing line first and restores confidence returns before a bank goes bust. But the spectre of a collapse is neck and neck with Bernanke and it's still anyone's guess which will win.

Daily Telegraph: Budget 2008: An economic storm will hit the UK whatever Alistair Darling says

It seems that buried in the Treasury's budget report is a prediction that houses prices will fall in real terms in 2008, thus reducing Stamp Duty revenues for the Government. They talk the market up while predicting it's downfall. Anybody surprised?

times: Hedge funds on the brink as US Federal Reserve cash fails to ease crisis

The potential closure of six funds came as a leading private equity executive, who declined to be named, said that such funds were “snapping like twigs”, with one failing every day.

Government Auctions On-Line: Home page for government auctions

A bit of track. The is the place to look when the Government needs to raise cash! This is where the U.K. government auctions all its junk. Expect to see Darling appear soon!

Posted by who stole my pension? @ 06:29 AM 6 Comments

FT: Credit squeeze hits three more hedge funds

Another three big hedge funds have been forced to close down or to suspend investor withdrawals as the credit squeeze persists. These are very tough times,” said Angelos Metaxa, a director of CM Advisors, a Geneva-based fund of hedge funds. “Anyone with significant amounts of leverage is going to be in trouble.”

The Wall Street Journal: The Fed May Run Low on Unconventional Ammo

David Greenlaw of Morgan Stanley notes: “If the situation were to become sufficiently dire, the Fed has unlimited power to monetize the economy’s debt … . They could finance the entire $10 trillion US mortgage market — and then some — via some combination of outright purchases (of the GSE-backed securities) and repo transactions (for the private debt).” Of course, that would quickly send the federal-funds rate to zero and, with a lag, inflation to the moon. Hello, Zimbabwe (inflation: 100,500%).

Bloomberg: ING Suspends Withdrawals From Two Funds

ING (NZ) Ltd. suspended withdrawals from two funds that own collateralized debt obligations, saying they are being affected by the global ``credit crunch.'' Withdrawals from the ING Diversified Yield Fund and the ING Regular Income Fund were "halted to protect investors" the CEO said.

London Stock Exchange: House prices up 1.7% in January

UK property prices rose by an average of 1.7 per cent during January, new data from the Department for Communities and Local Government (CLG) shows.

Gower Coast Properties: Overland Road, Mumbles, Swansea

Absolutlety unbelievable! This property was sold back in July for £395,000 (http://www.houseprices.co.uk/e.php?q=sa3+4lp) and has just been brought to the market again with an asking price of £575,000, a massive 46% increase in just 8 months - no additional works to property either. I challenge anyone out there to find a more blatant example of rip off estate agents at work.

CNN: Oil crosses record $110, despite supply rise

If we are just entering the fear stage on houses, we have not even got close to it with peak oil. But prices have breached $110, as I predicted this summer. They will rise towards 150, 200 +, remember that, at $80 a barrel, it is about 22cents a cup, NOTHING sells for that cheap, not even water. The truth that most do not want to know is that oil at $110 is ridiculously cheap. We will see that peak oil will become common knowledge this year, probably when prices spike above $125, which could occur before next month, as banks hoard liquidity injections within assets such as oil. What will this mean for house prices? Our economy? Well, interest rates below 10% may well become a distant memory in a very short time as oil feeds through over the space of a couple of years into CPI and RPI.

Posted by planning4acrash @ 09:18 PM 13 Comments

Citywire: Budget Speech: Long on claims, short on contents

Darling cited ‘stability’ 23 times and ‘responsible’ five times as he warned the UK growth forecast for this year had been downgraded 0.25% to between 1.75% and 2.25%. Fairness’ also got four mentions as he re-iterated the government’s commitments on poverty targets, home building and greater access to shared home ownership programmes. Access to shared-equity programmes for key workers will be extended and stamp duty on shared-ownership homes will not be levied until homeowners own 80% of the equity.

Bloomberg: Billionaire Blixseth Misses $20 Million Payment to LeMond Group

Blixseth, 57, has told the group he can't pay them until he closes the sale of the club. In January, he was in talks with CrossHarbor Capital Partners LLC, the Boston-based private- equity firm founded by Yellowstone member Sam Byrne. Blixseth agreed to sell ``significant assets'' of the club on Jan. 15, for $455.7 million, according to an affidavit from Robert Sumpter, the Yellowstone Club's vice president of development. ``I'm mystified as to why this so-called billionaire can't provide $1 out of $20 million to my clients,'' said Christopher Madel, a Minneapolis-based lawyer at Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi LLP, who's representing LeMond and the other plaintiffs. Blixseth ranked 380th on Forbes magazine's list of the wealthiest Americans last year, at $1.3 billion.

Mortgagestrategy: BUDGET 2008: Smoke and mirrors from Darling

Connells Survey & Valuation has slammed today’s Budget as nothing more than smoke and mirrors, and is calling for the government to take considered action to rebuild the housing market. “The government is ignoring the perilous situation in the housing market completely. We needed to see decisive action in this budget to address the lack of confidence in the market - what a wasted opportunity.”

Posted by jack c @ 05:34 PM 12 Comments

WSJ Economics Blog: Recession To Be Worst Since 1970s

"Merrill Lynch economist David Rosenberg, one of the most bearish Wall Street economists, says to look past the 1990-91 recession as a guide to the current downturn. The key difference: the depth of home-price declines." I wouldn't be surprised if the recession is even worse than the 1970s personally but this article brings home the reality that it's not just a 1990 situation.

BBC wales: weakening houseing market

look at the steep drop in houseprices on this graph..........

Posted by mark @ 03:40 PM 10 Comments

timesonline: Savills says non-dom tax could harm 2008 housing market

Savills' caution for the current year is coming off the back of a bumper 2007, which will see Savills 5,000 staff share a bonus pool of £152 million, 20 per cent higher than last year. ……………….so we should ignore any bleating about interest rate cuts to aid the hard hit homeowner, as it will be self serving shite.

BBC: Darling puts car and drink tax up

As far as I can make out, no tax attack on Second Homes. Big increases in duty on alcohol and high-polluting cars have been announced by Chancellor Alistair Darling. In his first Budget he put 4p on a pint of beer, 14p on a bottle of wine and 55p on a bottle of spirits. Duty on a packet of cigarettes is up 11p.

Posted by tyrellcorporation @ 02:08 PM 18 Comments

MoneyWeek: How to avoid paying 18% on your gains – sell now

Controversial changes to capital gains tax come into force next month. Find out what the new rules mean for you, and whether you should take action now to avoid paying more. Also, the new rules mean a glut of buy-to-lets may hit the market, as landlords seek to offload before the change.

RICS: That RICS report in full

PDF with all the surveyors comments.

Bloomberg: 74 0f 80 bonds fail the test (interactive)

The bonds which are not investment grade show clearly. Soon the Fed will get these.....

Bloomberg: Money-Market Rate for Euros Climbs a Day After Fed's Measures

The cost of borrowing euros for three months rose for a seventh day, signaling central bank measures to combat the credit squeeze aren't succeeding.

home.co.uk: Property Numbers Surge as Sellers Panic

"..surge in premium property listings predominantly in Greater London." Asking Prices in England & Wales have fallen 0.4% over Q1 2008. ..increased supply of premium properties is unusual and may signify more property market turmoil as investors and City workers move to liquidate prime UK property market assets. The number of properties for sale in central London has soared by 22.5% in just the last 14 days. Most of these new listings are flats, which dominate the London housing market.

Posted by doomwatch @ 10:50 AM 13 Comments

FT: Going, going, gone: a rising auction of scary scenarios

There are two ways of adjusting the prices of housing to incomes: allow nominal prices to fall or raise nominal incomes. The former means mass bankruptcy and a huge fiscal bail out; the latter imposes the inflation tax. In extreme circumstances inflation must be attractive. Even if it is not the Fed’s choice, it is what a reasonable outsider might fear, with obvious consequences for all asset prices.

Bloomberg: Dollar Declines on Speculation Fed Rescue Package Won't Succeed

The dollar fell on speculation the Federal Reserve's plan to provide funds to banks won't be enough to break the gridlock in interbank lending and stem credit losses.

MoneyWeek: Inflation: don't worry too much

This article offers a suggestion that maybe inflation isn't as much of a threat as we think. We could just leave it up to the market to solve the problem. A slightly different, but interesting view...

Guardian: Property ladder harder to grasp than ever

More gloomy news for the housing market emerged yesterday as figures showed that the number of first-time buyers has fallen to a record low while rates on popular two-year fixed mortgages for them have risen to their highest since 2000.Ed Stansfield at Capital Economics said it was unlikely an easing in borrowing costs would help revive the housing market given the nature of the credit crunch and marked slowing of the economy. "We expect a protracted period of weakness, with house prices falling this year and next," he said. Most analysts think prices will remain steady this year, but a growing number are expecting a fall.

Bloomberg: Moody's, S&P Defer Cuts on AAA Subprime, Hiding Loss

"Even after downgrading almost 10,000 subprime-mortgage bonds, Standard & Poor's and Moody's Investors Service haven't cut the ones that matter most: AAA securities that are the mainstays of bank and insurance company investments". "A bond sold by Deutsche Bank AG in May 2006 is AAA at both companies even though 43 percent of the underlying mortgages are delinquent".

Kitco: Stagflation Today Hyperinflation - Depression Tomorrow

"The federal government will install martial law, capital controls, and close banks for a spell while the armed forces are overrun with applicants by those needing food and a bed. Many cities become uninhabitable due to crime, disease and neglect. Large parts of Detroit have already returned to the wild with coyotes and other unusual birds and critters living in burned out homes and huge vacant land parcels where stately homes once stood. In lieu of valueless dollars, rural people in particular will use trading and goods barter instead of paper cash. There are two million guns in the United States and they are going to be used on criminals, to settle old grudges and the cops who will not be able to cope."

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 09:04 AM 30 Comments

stuff.co.nz: ING suspends withdrawals from two funds

More than 8000 investors have $400 million in the two funds. No other funds were affected.

Telegraph: Fed takes boldest action since the Depression to rescue US mortgage industry

"The US Federal Reserve has taken the boldest action since the 1930s, accepting $200bn of housing debt as collateral to prevent an implosion of the mortgage finance industry and head off a full-blown economic crisis."

Posted by quiet guy @ 12:45 AM 20 Comments

BBC News: Darling to delay fuel duty rise

Alistair Darling will delay a 2p rise in fuel duty for six months in the Budget, the BBC has learned. The rise, announced in last year's Budget, had been due to come into effect on 1 April but will be postponed due to soaring crude oil prices. According to the Office of National Statistics, fuel inflation is the highest since records began in January 1997.

MarketWatch: Derivatives the new 'ticking bomb'

Let's put that $516 trillion in context of some other monetary data: *U.S. annual gross domestic product is about $15 trillion. *World's GDPs for all nations is approximately $50 trillion. This cascading "domino effect" was brilliantly described in "The $300 Trillion Time Bomb: If Buffett can't figure out derivatives, can anybody?" published early last year in Portfolio magazine, a couple months before the subprime meltdown. Columnist Jesse Eisinger's $300 trillion figure came from an earlier study of the derivatives market as it was growing from $100 trillion to $516 trillion over five years. Eisinger concluded: "There's nothing intrinsically scary about derivatives, except when the bad 2% blow up." Unfortunately, that "bad 2%" did blow up ...subprime mess"

Posted by happyrenterz @ 09:40 PM 8 Comments

The Times: Time to save the picket fence, not sit on it

Absolute twaddle from The Times as usual .... think what this would do to the once mighty US$.
"Some kind of more direct bailout is now going to be necessary. The Government could, for example, offer to lend the necessary sums at very low rates of interest to those millions of borrowers in danger of defaulting on their loans. ....."
"... It will be ugly. It involves all kinds of moral hazard and it could end up costing a fortune, further clouding an already murky fiscal outlook for the economy. In fact, the only thing it has to recommend it is that all the alternatives are catastrophically worse."

Times on Line: Mortgages for new homes at record low

The number of mortgages taken out by home buyers fell by 19 per cent in January to a new low. Figures released today by the Council of Mortgage Lenders show that 50,300 buyers were granted a home loan in January, 34 per cent lower than January last year, and the lowest figure recorded since CML began collecting monthly information in 2002.

Bloomberg: Treasuries Fall as Fed to Accept Mortgage Debt as Collateral

``In effect, the Fed has gotten into the mortgage business, which ultimately is going to be quite stimulative to the economy,'' said Michael Aronstein, chief investment strategist in New York at Oscar Gruss & Son Inc. The risk of losses on U.S. Treasury notes exceeded German bunds for the first time ever on concern the subprime mortgage crisis is sapping government reserves, credit-default swaps prices show. Contracts on 10-year Treasuries traded at a record 16 basis points earlier today, compared with 15 basis points on German government notes, according to data compiled by BNP Paribas SA.

Posted by tyrellcorporation @ 08:54 PM 7 Comments

NY Times: China’s Rate of Inflation Is Highest in 11 Years

Consumer prices in China surged to a 8.7 percent annual rate in February from a 7.1 percent rate in January, the fastest pace of increase in more than 11 years, China’s National Bureau of Statistics announced on Tuesday morning.

Posted by sold 2 rent 1 @ 08:13 PM 11 Comments

Bloomberg: U.S. Stocks Rally on Fed's Plan to Lend Up to $200 Billion

U.S. stocks rallied the most in five years after the Federal Reserve said it will pump $200 billion into the financial system to shore up banks battered by mortgage- related losses.

Posted by tyrellcorporation @ 08:11 PM 14 Comments

Bloomingberg: John Galt Plan Might Save U.S. Financial System: Caroline Baum

"Galt, the hero of Ayn Rand's magnum opus ``Atlas Shrugged,'' stops the world by going on strike. He and the ``men of the mind'' literally withdraw from the world after watching their wealth confiscated by the looters (the government). Toward the end of Rand's 1,000-plus page novel (or polemic), the economy is in shambles. Desperate, the looters kidnap Galt and prod him to ``tell us what to do.'' Galt refuses, or rather tells them ``to get out of the way.'' "

The Mir