Posts about Mortgage Market Report as of October 6, 2009

A couple of things are happening today: The Central Bank of Australia raised rates today.  That is making a lot of people think that the market is getting closer to a turning point.   Personal opinion – Australia is a big country and a place I’d like to visit some day, but economically, it’s not that important. Some independent news paper wrote an article about how supposedly some foreign countries are talking about dumping the US Dollar and using a different currency for international exchange.   I’m not putting a lot of stock in it at this point because it’s very unsubstantiated but the possibility does exist.   The US Dollar has taken a hit on that report.

by Bobby Kipp Hernandez Times are tough at the moment, with a lot of us having a hard time juggling our mortgage, paying the bills and keeping the gas tank full. At the same time, people are being laid off by the thousands and wave after wave of home foreclosures are sweeping across the country. If you happen to own a timeshare, then things are even worse. The maintenance fees keep going up every year and owners are frequently invoiced hundreds or even thousands in special assessment fees.

  “ Keep skunks and bankers at a distance ” so the old saying goes. Mortgage bankers may have to ignore that saying, however, given some National Mortgage News data that shows that four companies (Wells Fargo, Bank of America Home Loan, JPMorgan Chase, and Citigroup) control almost 58% of the overall lending market . Wells was the largest mortgage originator in the second quarter, funding $131 billion in loans and doubling their originations from a year ago. BofA did $114 billion, up 223% from a year earlier.

We’re recapping this weekend’s Online News Association conference through the lens of Twitter — assembling the most interesting or useful tweets from each session. I posted recaps of Friday’s sessions yesterday; here are Saturday’s . Among the topics covered: the social context of retweeting; why Twitter won’t boost your SEO; a Spanish Twitter-like tool for journalists; and the role of Scotch in journalism startups. You’ll also find two of the biggest (and, to my mind, successful) sessions of the weekend: “From Journalist to Entrepreneur” at 10 a.m.

(Labor pains: Jobless rate hits 9.8 percent. At a time when much of President Barack Obama’s focus has been on foreign policy decisions, Friday’s jobs report served as a bleak a reminder of the country’s most pressing domestic issue.) Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy As Layoffs Persist, Good Jobs Go Unfilled In a brutal job market, here’s a task that might sound easy: Fill jobs in nursing, engineering and energy research that pay $55,000 to $60,000, plus benefits.

British house prices rise for the third straight month in September, jumping 1.6% from August, mortgage lender Halifax says Tuesday. (source: Market Watch) – RSS feeds and Feed widget on Feedzilla.com

U.S. stocks rebounded today, aided by a rally in financials. Why was the group strong? Because a team of analysts at a well-known Wall Street firm upgraded the large banks sector. And why did they do that? Bloomberg gives us the lowdown in “Wells Fargo, Biggest U.S. Banks Raised by Goldman” : Wells Fargo & Co., JPMorgan Chase & Co. and the biggest U.S. banks were raised to “attractive” from “neutral” by Goldman Sachs Group Inc., which said share prices don’t reflect prospects for earnings growth.

Stephen J. Hemsley is one of the most powerful people you’ve never heard of. But Health Care for America Now (HCAN) hopes to change that. Hemsley is the CEO of UnitedHealth Group, the nation’s largest insurance company in terms of revenue. Last year it made $75 billion in revenues and $4.6 billion in profits. It ranked No. 21 on Fortune’s list of largest corporations. About 70 million Americans get their health insurance from UnitedHealth, headquartered in a Minneapolis suburb.

by Matthew Eccles Are you looking for some inside information on free mortgage calculators? Here’s an up-to-date report from mortgage calculator experts who should know the formulas used to calculate mortgage payments. A mortgage calculator will state the amount you need to pay each month. You can also do a backward calculation with many calculators if you are not sure how much you can borrow. Mortgage calculators do more than just tell you how much you can borrow.

New research shows that lenders are charging existing mortgage borrowers higher variable interest rates than the average offered to new customers. The report has sparked fresh controversy over the cost of switching mortgages. The survey was commissioned by The Australian newspaper and conducted by independent market analyst’s brandmanagement. Results of the research show that the average variable rate offered to new customers was 5.24 per cent.

Moody’s Investors Service says in a new report that despite the Australian, Japanese and Korean economies all heading towards weak but nonetheless positive growth in 2010, the performance of securitised loans in the region will continue to deteriorate until the end of 2010. “In line with Moody’s forecast of a slow economic recovery in the region, we believe that the limited but prolonged negative performance of underlying collateral will continue.

This morning we had our final revision to the 2nd quarter’s GDP number. Folks always wonder, “Why can’t the statisticians get it right the first time instead of always revising an economic report?” Many of the government’s statistics are revised in the months that follow. Errors in the original number arise from the sampling errors and bias that later prove to be incorrect: initially the government uses a sample to guess at the actual number, but then it turns out that the actual number is different.

Technorati Tags: Mortgage Rates Related Posts October 3, 2009 — Eventually, this will affect mortgage rates…. October 2, 2009 — Driveby Economics – Something I’m Excited About….. October 2, 2009 — Market Update – Change of Direction October 2, 2009 — Jobs Report – Option #3 October 1, 2009 — The Jobs Report – what’s it going to mean for mortgage rates? ShareThis

The chief watchdog for the government’s $700 billion bailout program says federal officials were… The chief watchdog for the government’s $700 billion bailout program says federal officials were trying to contain the worst financial crisis in decades last year with the Troubled Asset Relief Program, but they had concerns about the bank institutions’ financial health. The Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve lied to the American public last fall when they said that the first nine banks to receive government bailout funds were healthy, a government watchdog states in a new report released today.

Its central bank may break ranks with G-20 partners and raise interest ratesWould-be home owner Hwang Min-soon is the sort of bullish property buyer who may prompt the central bank to break ranks with the G-20 and raise interest rates.She is considering the purchase of a 104 square metre apartment in Seoul, where property prices have defied the global financial crisis to rise 20 per cent since the start of the year.

I’ve been pretty quiet for the past several months, taking advantage of the momentum of global reflation.  With newly minted Federal Reserve displacing risk capital in government bonds and mortgages, they have forced many savers to speculate in equities.  This, combined with weak stimulus and low multiplier government spending, has led to earnings and valuations which would indicate a fairly regular economy.  Google’s P/E is 33.9.  Exxon Mobile’s is 10.99.  If you didn’t think we had a global depression hanging over our heads, the markets look pretty fairly valued.

Numbers unveiled recently by Miller Samuel for the third quarter Manhattan co-op and condo market paint a mixed picture: the median sales for re-sales rose 3.4 percent, to $750,000, and is the first quarter increase in over a year–but that remains 8 percent lower than the prior year quarter’s median of $815,000.

Australia’s richest man warns RBA against interest rate riseSYDNEY, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) — The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) should not raise interest rates as it would undermine the rebounding property market, kill off new developments and drive up rents, according to one of the nation’s richest men, property developer Harry Triguboff.The founder and chairman of the Meriton Group said on Monday talk of a potential rate rise, coupled with the reduction of the first-home owner grant, had made even

by Donald McGowan If house prices fall, it’s not only the people selling the properties that are affected; professions within the conveyancing industry are hit hard as well. With a recent decline in house prices, particularly in the North West of England, the country’s conveyancing solicitors are being forced to tighten their proverbial belts. After a recent report showed that property asking prices dipped by 5,000 in the last month, the summer lull has divided homeowners straight down the line, into those who have the luxury of retaining their asking prices, or even increasing them, and those forced to make the drop.

Mortgage markets rallied for most of last week, but ended Friday on a sour note. After touching their lowest levels since Memorial Day, mortgage rates spiked to close out the week. Despite pricing getting worse by 1/4 percent Friday afternoon, however, mortgage rates still managed to fall for the second consecutive week. There were two main storylines last week on Wall Street.  The first was data-driven. After several months of better-than-expected results, the September Non-Farm Payrolls report fell well short of expectations.

Australia’s richest man warns RBA against interest rate riseSYDNEY, Oct. 5 (Xinhua) — The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) should not raise interest rates as it would undermine the rebounding property market, kill off new developments and drive up rents, according to one of the nation’s richest men, property developer Harry Triguboff.The founder and chairman of the Meriton Group said on Monday talk of a potential rate rise, coupled with the reduction of the first-home owner grant, had made even

by  William Campenni / Human Events /   10/05/2009 Hat Tip to Bluegrass Pundit In actuality, those subprime mortgages issued in the last several years that went into foreclosure went mostly to illegal aliens, the exploiting landlords who rented to illegal aliens, and other citizen minorities who lost jobs to illegal aliens, especially displaced African-Americans in the agricultural, trades and services industries.In the Medieval era —

Technorati Tags: Mortgage Rates Related Posts October 3, 2009 — Eventually, this will affect mortgage rates…. October 2, 2009 — Driveby Economics – Something I’m Excited About….. October 2, 2009 — Market Update – Change of Direction October 2, 2009 — Jobs Report – Option #3 October 1, 2009 — The Jobs Report – what’s it going to mean for mortgage rates?

Mortgage markets rallied for most of last week, but ended Friday on a sour note. After touching their lowest levels since Memorial Day , mortgage rates spiked to close out the week. Despite pricing getting worse by 1/4 percent Friday afternoon, however, mortgage rates still managed to fall for the second consecutive week. There were two main storylines last week on Wall Street.  The first was data-driven. After several months of better-than-expected results, the September Non-Farm Payrolls report fell well short of expectations.

There are compelling arguments for both renting and owning a home. We’ll save that debate for another time. But what people on both sides of the equation can agree on is this: Saving money is always a good idea. Prospective renters, like aspiring homeowners, can help themselves by doing some homework before they start looking for a place. Get a sense of the market value for your areas of choice, given the amenities you desire.

MMRecap for Oct. 5 Last week turned out to be a great one for U.S. Treasury securities, with the 10-year note yield, which moves inversely to price, closing at its lowest level since May.  Although economic news was mixed, underlying concerns about the viability of an economic recovery, as well as Iran’s nuclear testing program and weakness in the global markets kept money flowing into the safe haven of Treasuries. A surprise drop in consumer confidence in September gave Treasuries an early boost Tuesday.

Mortgages are pretty much in line with swaps this morning. There is no untoward movement within the coupon stack. Dealers report buying by the Federal Reserve and mortgage servicers. Real money accounts have been observed going down in coupon. One traders e mail suggested that the market was drifting into year end mode. Yikes!!! That would be nearly three month of subdued activity.

The Daily Reckoning The God of Abraham may rule the Vatican. But another group of gods rules finance. They are like the Greek gods…playful and mischievous, with a keen sense of humor. They look down from heaven not like a benevolent shepherd watching his flock, but like a cackling gawker betting on mud-wrestlers. Here at The Daily Reckoning , this is not the first time we’ve paid homage to these lesser deities. Nor is it the first time we’ve mentioned their perverse method: Those whom these gods wouldst destroy are first cursed with good luck.

Mortgage markets rallied for most of last week, but ended Friday on a sour note. After touching their lowest levels since Memorial Day, mortgage rates spiked to close out the week. Despite pricing getting worse by 1/4 percent Friday afternoon, however, mortgage rates still managed to fall for the second consecutive week. There were two main storylines last week on Wall Street. The first was data-driven. After several months of better-than-expected results, the September Non-Farm Payrolls report fell well short of expectations.