Hints and tips:
...About three-quarters of US homeowners have mortgages charging less than 4 per cent interest, according to JPMorgan Chase research....
...And just yesterday, the national association of homebuilders survey showed the first decline in homebuilder confidence in seven months, as customer traffic fell....
...Rising interest rates are putting homeowners off refinancing. Home loan originations dipped 3 per cent in the second quarter to $447bn, according to Mortgage Bankers Association estimates....
...That surpassed a previous record set in January 2014, according to S&P Global Platts....
...“Even if they are not being built directly for first-time buyers, existing homeowners who move up are freeing up properties for new buyers,” Ms Fisher says....
...Authorities are trying to direct relief to poorer neighbourhoods after criticism that buyers of higher-priced homes received too much of the mortgage relief set aside under 2012’s $20bn agreement between...
...(Financial Times) OVERNIGHT MARKETS: DOWN Asian markets Nikkei 225 down -21.61 (-0.17%) at 12,327 Topix down -1.48 (-0.14%) at 1,039 Hang Seng down -29.44 (-0.13%) at 23,061 US markets S&P 500 up +5.04...
...Gone are the days when 125 per cent mortgages were the norm, or when homeowners could get so-called “liar loans” where borrowers self-certified their income....
...The homebuilders’ index is by far the strongest sub-sector of the S&P 500 so far this year, up almost 70 per cent....
...The Obama administration has tried to remove barriers to homeowners’ refinancing. The Treasury, which has a 77 per cent stake in AIG as a result of 2008’s bail-out of the company, declined to comment....
...“The market has averaged about 375 sales per month for the seven months in 2009,” said Moody”s Managing Director Nick Levidy....
...After gaining up to 1.5 per cent during the day, the S&P 500 finally closed 0.1 per cent higher at 1,046.50....
...But the Mortgage Bankers Association was careful to say that this was largely fuelled by existing homeowners refinancing rather than new buyers entering the market....
...A much-anticipated plan from the Obama administration to help struggling homeowners stave off foreclosures failed to give US stocks a boost on Wednesday....
...mortgage payments for troubled homeowners....
...The benchmark S&P 500 index closed down 8.9 per cent to 816.21, the Dow Jones Industrial Average 7.7 per cent to 8,149.09 and the Nasdaq Composite Index 9 per cent to 1,398.07....
...Financials made early gains after lawmakers voted in favour of a housing bill designed to support the mortgage providers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and prevent foreclosures for about 400,000 homeowners....
...That undermined US financial stocks and the S&P 500 closed 3.4 per cent lower, its worst day this year....
...The homeowner gets the reduction in principal and, in many cases, a lower mortgage rate....
...The Nikkei 225 average closed 0.2 per cent lower at 13,039.69 and the broader Topix index ended 0.4 per cent lower at 1,285.91....
...The mortgage insurers provide cover for banks and lenders in the event of a homeowner default....
...for struggling homeowners....
...About 80,000 homeowners with patchy credit histories face increases in their mortgage payments of hundreds of pounds a month because of the global credit squeeze, according to the bleakest assessment yet...
...As problems in the US housing market deepened, Hank Paulson, the Treasury secretary said that the government was “aggressively pursuing a comprehensive plan” to help homeowners facing foreclosure....
...By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was off 0.7 per cent at 10,039.13, while the broader S&P 500 was 0.4 per cent lower at 1,108.72. The Nasdaq Composite added 0.2 per cent to 1,888.56....
International Edition