The News Review:
- Mortgage applications fall 16.6 pct
- US MBA’s Mortgage Applications Index Tumbled 17% Last Week
- A million forecast to suffer mortgage stress
- Mortgage Refinancing
- California Home Sales Revive, But Not Without Intense Pain
Mortgage applications fall 16.6 pct
Reuters
homes and refinance mortgages sank to the lowest level in nearly eight years, a trade group said on Wednesday, in the heart of a financial crisis that has sapped consumer confidence. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s seasonally adjusted index of mortgage applications, which includes both purchase and refinance loans, slid 16. 1 last week, the lowest reading since December 2000. Potential buyers are in many cases paralyzed by tumbling stocks, a two-year home price slump that has room to run, mortgage rates close to the year’s peak and higher downpayments required by lenders making it harder to get a mortgage as foreclosures spike. Job insecurity is also increasing as a recessionary economy means unemployment will rise from its five-year high, many analysts say.
US MBA’s Mortgage Applications Index Tumbled 17% Last Week
Bloomberg
fell last week to the lowest level in almost eight years as theworst financial crisis in seven decades dried up lending. The Mortgage Bankers Association's index of applications topurchase a home or refinance a loan dropped 17 percent to 408. 1,the lowest level since December 2000, from 489. The group's refinancing gauge tumbled 24 percent and the purchaseindex fell 11 percent. Falling property values may be scaring away some buyers, andthe threat of mounting losses has caused banks around the worldto hoard cash, making it difficult for those still in the marketto get financing.
A million forecast to suffer mortgage stress
The Australian, Australia
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Feeling the pressure in Fremantle are Felicity Newman, 53, a casual academic at Murdoch University, and her husband, Carlos Santos, 58, a crane driver in the Pilbara. They bought a new house in March, but have not been able to sell their first home despite dropping the price by $30,000. Ms Newman said they have had to refinance to make the "massive" mortgage repayments on both houses, which take up about 70per cent of their combined salaries. "I am concerned that if we don’t sell the house in the next few months we could end up — once we’ve used all the extra that we borrowed — that we could end up being foreclosed. "
On a positive note, Fujitsu recorded a 10per cent decline in mortgage stress levels in the 12 months to September, while severe stress levels fell 19 per cent to 256,000, largely because of the 1per cent central bank rate cut this month. But in another worrying sign, the survey showed that households were continuing to refinance to try to escape stress, and that more than 30per cent were allocating those funds to pay down credit cards.
Mortgage Refinancing
Food Consumer, IL
But before deciding, you need to understandall that refinancing involves. Your home may be your most valuablefinancial asset, so you want to be careful when choosing a lender orbroker and specific mortgage terms. Remember that, along with thepotential benefits to refinancing, there are also costs. When you refinance, you pay off your existing mortgage and create anew one.
California Home Sales Revive, But Not Without Intense Pain
Wall Street Journal
Then Steve Sherman Sr. “I am one of those troubled borrowers not making any mortgage payments,” Mr. The 61-year-old shipping and warehouse supervisor refinanced his house in Los Banos two years ago for $365,000, spending much of the new loan on home renovations. Now, he figures, the house is worth $140,000.
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