House Prices Drop US/UK Housing Crash? Subprime Bubble

Times: 25,000 jobs go in a week, and those are only the ones we know about After many years of being overlooked in favour of more glamorous statistics such as GDP or inflation, unemployment is back in the headlines. A fortnight ago 20,000 jobs were lost at well-known companies. It is chilling to realise that these job losses are only the ones that we know about, because they have all taken place at publicly listed companies. One of the biggest challenges facing Alistair Darling in his PreBudget Report is how to create an environment in which employers feel comfortable about keeping staff. However, the Chancellor is far more likely to concentrate on initiatives such as rises in tax credits for poorer families, child benefits and winter fuel payments.

Original post by mytimeisnigh

CNN: Three banks in California, Georgia fail Three more banks - two in California and one in Georgia - failed Friday, bringing to 22 the number of institutions forced to close in the wake of the financial crisis.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said the banking operations of Downey Savings and Loan Association of Newport Beach, Calif., and PFF Bank & Trust of Downey, Calif., were acquired by U.S. Bank (USB, Fortune 500) of Minneapolis.

Original post by mark

Here is Housing Doom’s fourth installment of our unauthorized annotated transcript of the American Enterprise Institute’s September 30, 2008 seminar "The Deflating Mortgage and Housing Bubble, Part IV: Where Is the Bottom?" [1] This is the presentation by Tom Zimmerman. He makes use of an extensive slide deck.[2] There is now an official transcript at the event site There is a video and an audio-only recording of the event at the event site.
Highlights
 

"… the housing market’s going to go down, but I think there’s some data that says there may be some turning points not that far away."
"Believe me, I would be selling everything in New York …"
"Here’s a statistic for you. For the past six months the number of subprime loans in 30, 60, 90 day delinquencies has been going down."
"… but we have this balance between foreclosures pushing more properties out there, […]

Original post by John M.

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