Free Republic

House prices generally fall from about August until March every year. Except for 2012-2013. House prices rose from August to March … and then picked up the spring/summer trend of growth. Here is the Case-Shiller 20 metro index non seasonally adjusted. csnsass The CoreLogic Loan Performance index shows the same pattern. loanhp090913 So, is this recent change in the house price regime sustainable? No, unless investors keep pouring in from foreign lands. 1. Home affordability is falling. The NAR’s Homebuyer Affordabilty index is dropping as house prices boom and mortgage rates continue to rise. homeaffordhop 2. Real Median Household Income...

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So you thought the financial crisis ended the mad leveraged mortgages. Think again. Mortgage bonds guaranteed by U.S. agency Ginnie Mae will probably swell to $1 trillion by the end of 2010 because borrowers with low down payments or bad credit scores can only qualify for government-insured loans, Bank of America Corp. analysts are saying. The Federal Housing Administration, which insures loans with down payments as low as 3.5 percent and has no credit-score requirements, is “the only source of funding for these leveraged borrowers,” according to Ankur Mehta and Ohmsatya Ravi, who wrote the report, say. Loans backed climbed...

Despite assurances that the takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be temporary, the giant mortgage companies will most likely never fully return to private hands, lawmakers and company executives are beginning to quietly acknowledge.

MAYVILLE — The county’s investment portfolio remains strong in spite of havoc throughout the U.S. financial sector. As of December, the county earned $4.6 million off its investments in 2008, money that offsets property taxes. That was an $866,000 increase over the previous month as the county’s investment portfolio remains relatively shielded from the financial turmoil that has left so many investors with huge losses following Wall Street’s meltdown. The county’s investment insulation is largely thanks to a decision made years ago to invest in a certain type of security, according to Darin Schulz, county finance director. ‘‘One thing that’s...

“THE medium-term outlook for the company is very positive,” declared Northern Rock's chief executive, Adam Applegarth, unveiling its first-half results in July. He spoke of a credit book that was “robust”. Who would have guessed that less than two months later Britain's fifth-largest mortgage lender would be fighting for its life, its branches besieged by customers demanding their savings back? The run on Northern Rock is the most dramatic symptom of the contagion gripping the financial markets. Here was a bank that had grown rich from the innovations of recent years, using abundantly stocked wholesale markets to fund its lively...

<p>On Wall Street, Freddie Mac's new chief executive, Gregory Parseghian, won quick praise as a financial pro who can restore credibility to the shaken mortgage behemoth.</p> <p>But it may well be in Washington, D.C., where the fate of Mr. Parseghian -- and of Freddie Mac -- is ultimately decided.</p>