Ottawa’s plan to clamp down on mortgage securitization will make it harder for smaller lenders to compete with big banks, increasing their costs – and potentially raising mortgage rates, players in the sector say.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/cy3o5km
Last week I saw a restaurant review on a local blog that touted “The New York Times says . . .” and I thought, wait a minute, the Times didn’t “say” anything, somebody that works for the Times did! One person, one opinion, not the entire staff and their collective opinion, but one individual. Invoking the mighty Times just because the reviewer works for the NY Times, transfers the credibility and credentials of the institution to the individual and turns an individual opinion into a powerful endorsement.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/cgqd9sf
The ranks of underwater homeowners continue to shrink as home prices rise.
As of December, 10.4 million homeowners, or 21.5% of homeowners with a mortgage, owed more on their homes than they were worth.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/d2cooq2
As housing heads into the critical spring market, credit is finally beginning to thaw. Lenders are increasingly approving low down payment loans, and government sponsored mortgage giant Fannie Mae is buying more of them.
It is a noticeable shift from the last four years, when 20 percent down on a home purchase loan was the only game in the neighborhood.
Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100548913
TORONTO – Three of Canada’s top banks posted stronger-than-expected quarterly profits on Thursday as they relied on lower loan-loss provisions, cost-cutting, and stronger international revenue to offset slower growth in domestic consumer lending.
Royal Bank of Canada and Toronto-Dominion Bank, the country’s two largest banks, both raised their quarterly dividend. No. 5 lender Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce left its payout unchanged, prompting investors to pull its shares lower.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/a3gzayy
Fewer U.S. homeowners owe more on their mortgages than their homes are currently worth, according to a new report from online real estate company Zillow. Nearly two million came out from underwater in 2012, and Zillow analysts estimate another one million more will see positive home equity in 2013. That sounds like a lot, but an estimated 13.8 million borrowers are still lacking any home equity, or 27.5 percent of all homeowners with a mortgage.
Read more: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100480500
Regulators issued new mortgage rules on Thursday designed to prevent a return to lending practices that cratered the housing market and brought the financial system to its knees during the past decade. Here’s a look at some frequently asked questions:
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/b9lz7kt
Just four short years ago, you could buy an investment property with nothing down and get the best interest rates in the market.
That was then. Today, rental financing is night-and-day different. To mortgage a small (a one-to-four unit, non-owner occupied) rental property now, you need to plop down one-fifth of the purchase price. And even then, you don’t always get the lowest rate.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/dygy2gc
CHARLOTTE, N.C., Dec 3 (Reuters) – One in three U.S. consumers would consider a mortgage from retailer Wal-Mart and almost half would consider one from online payment provider PayPal, according to a financial services study to be released on Monday.
The results should be especially disconcerting for banks because the two companies don’t even offer mortgages.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/cntrsdp
Call it the Homer Simpson approach to business growth: when the pie is shrinking, eat a bigger piece.
Canada’s big banks have been doing just that. Facing slower growth in the mortgage market and an unofficial government ban on buying one another, the five biggest lenders have been ravenously snapping up any other financial assets that have become available. It’s a trend that looks set to continue.
Read more: http://tinyurl.com/cyazd3k