House Prices Drop US/UK Housing Crash? Subprime Bubble

Grauniad: Here’s to the end of a nasty bubble I love stories about falling house prices. Yes, there is the wretched prospect of repossession for some. Yes, there are years of negative equity ahead for the many. But who in their right mind thinks £200,000 for a new build flat is a good thing, while £100,000 is bad. Greedy developers and bankers, that’s who. Plus the foolish people who thought buy to let was a road to easy riches.
The property market will recover. But when it does the goverment and regulators should not shy away from reining it in. If we’re lucky we will never see real prices back at 2007 levels.

Original post by little professor

independent: Market turmoil sends investors fleeing into Treasuries Investors stampeded into US government debt yesterday, viewing it as the only safe haven from a new round of losses in the rest of the credit markets and another plunge by stock markets around the world.
Unprecedented demand sent interest rates on a whole range of US Treasuries to record low levels, in a flight to quality that surpassed even the effects of the mid-September panic.
By contrast, corporate bonds, mortgage securities and other debt instruments continued to plunge in value, amid growing concerns that a global recession will lead to a new wave of defaults and losses.

Original post by malct

Washingtonpost.com: Stocks Slump As Signs Point To Harder Times Key Indicators Suggest Deep Recession

Original post by v stor

MailOnline: Number of landlords falling behind on mortgage repayments soars by 50% as buy-to-let boom turns to nightmare Soaring numbers of buy-to-let investors have not paid a penny of their mortgage and face losing their property, official figures revealed today.
The worst economic meltdown since the First World War has triggered a nightmare for the army of people with one of Britain’s 1.1million buy-to-let loans

Original post by v stor

FT.com: Banks see rise in voluntary repossessions Banks are seeing an increase in the numbers of homeowners deciding voluntarily to hand back their properties because they cannot afford to keep up mortgage payments.
Voluntary repossessions involve the bank selling the property at auction but this will not show up in official figures as a repossession because there has been no court order.

Original post by v stor

Time: The Global Economy’s Big Fear Becomes Real: Deflation The deterioration of the global economy in the wake of the ongoing U.S. housing bust and subsequent credit crunch is accelerating at a frightening pace.

Original post by whostolemyendowment

Squealing pig: little pig, little pig, let me in A bunch of BTL landlords are getting a bit grumpy about the state of the housing market. In particular they are looking for the government to force banks to lend them more money at interest rates below what banks currently are offering. They are using the argument that tenants may be made homeless unless banks lend more money, and more cheaply than they are now.
Here is the text of the petition:

Original post by sold out

BBC News: Taxes to fall and then rise On Monday, the chancellor will admit, by implication, that the government’s industrial policy of the past decade has been something of a disaster.
Actually to call it an industrial policy is a bit misleading - but what I mean is the Treasury’s celebration over many years of the UK’s growing economic dependence on the City of London and financial services.
The City contributed around a third of our economic growth in the recent past and about 10% of total output.

Original post by flintster1994

Reuters via SOTT: Citigroup stock drops to 13-year low, fear grows Citigroup Inc faced a crisis of confidence on Wednesday as investors questioned the survival prospects of the U.S. banking giant, and its shares tumbled 23 percent to a 13-year low.
The second-largest U.S. bank by assets has been reeling on concerns that mounting losses from credit cards, mortgages and toxic debt could overwhelm its efforts to slash costs and add deposits. Last month, Wells Fargo & Co dealt a blow by derailing Citigroup’s bid to buy Wachovia Corp.
and check here : http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article7366.html
Citigroup: If this is the day of reckoning, and this is the time to start confessing, I will be the first to volunteer. I can no longer stand here before you and refute the fact that Citigroup is effectively insolvent.

Original post by malct

Bedlam asset management: Bedlam news letter Another cracking newsletter from Bedlam - especially the ideas about the rebirth of the cartel - essentially government picked winners will soon be thriving (and raising prices as they see fit). Read on…

Original post by mrminsky