| US home mortgage defaults jumped in Q4 2006; Default rates for ...
Default rates for subprime adjustable rate mortgages reached 14.44% in the fourth quarter of last year, jumping 122 basis points in three months. The default rate rose 77 basis points for all subprime loans, up from 12.56 percent in the third quarter to 13.33 percent - the highest since 2002. During the quarter, the US Mortgage Bankers Association, said foreclosures were initiated on a seasonally adjusted 0.54% of all loans -- the highest rate since the group started reporting the numbers 37 years ago. Subprime-loan originations totaled about $605 billion in 2006, or about a fifth of the overall market for US home loans, according to trade publication Inside Mortgage Finance and the second-biggest subprime lender New Century was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange today - US home loan lenders bailing out of no-deposit loans; Big subprime lender teeters on brink of collapse .
Mortgage applications fall for 2nd straight week
WASHINGTON -- Mortgage applications in the U.S. fell for the second week in a row last week as fewer homeowners refinanced, an industry report showed Wednesday.
The Mortgage Bankers Association's index of applications to buy a home or refinance a loan slipped 0.2 percent last week to 671 from 672.1 the prior week. Home-purchase applications rose 0.1 percent, while the group's index of refinancing posted the first back-to-back decline this year.
Purchase applications, while up from a three-year low in October, are at about the same level as a year ago. The numbers point to limited demand and a drag on economic growth as prices decline amid a glut of unsold homes.
"There's a lot more downside to come for home prices, which in turn will trigger more weakness in the housing market," said Michael Gregory, a senior economist at BMO Capital Markets in Toronto.
SAVE YOUR HOME
If you are on the brink of going into foreclosure, call your lender and try to work out an arrangement before you lose your home and ruin your credit. Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 04/8/07 BY SANDRA BLOCK
USA TODAY If you're lying awake at night, fretting about whether you'll lose your house to foreclosure, you may not be the only insomniac on your block. More than 2.1 million Americans with home loans missed at least one payment last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. Even more troubling, the rate of new foreclosures hit a record. The problem is likely to get worse. As adjustable-rate mortgages adjust to higher rates, many borrowers are finding they can't afford their payments.
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