Nearly Half of Modified Mortgages Delinquent Again
Some things just can’t be fixed, like unaffordable mortgages, that is, if you don’t bother making them more affordable.
The OTS released its fourth quarter 2008 Mortgage Metrics Report today, which revealed that nearly half of recent loan modifications fell back into serious default within months.
“For example, the percentage of modified loans that were seriously delinquent (60 or more days past Read more
More Than 11 Percent of Mortgages Late or in Foreclosure
A whopping 7.88 percent of all residential mortgages were at least one month late by the end of the fourth quarter of 2008, according to the MBA’s latest National Delinquency Survey.
That’s up from 6.99 percent in the third quarter of 2008 and 5.82 percent in the fourth quarter of 2007, a new record high and quarter-to-quarter jump.
The delinquency rate doesn’t include loans already in foreclosure, Read more
Chase: Two-Thirds of WaMu Mortgages Impaired
More interesting tidbits from Chase’s investor day.
Chase said two-thirds of the $173.5 billion in mortgages picked up via its acquisition of Washington Mutual assets were deemed “impaired,” per the Seattle Times.
That’s $116.7 billion in bad loans, though Chase said it has already written down their value to $88.8 billion.
A hefty 82 percent of the pay option arms are considered impaired, Read more
Fixed Rate Mortgages Grow Even More Popular
As if they couldn’t get any more popular, fixed-rate mortgages grabbed even more market share during the fourth quarter, according to mortgage financier Freddie Mac’s quarterly refinance report.
An overwhelming 97 percent of prime borrowers who originally had conforming ARMs chose a fixed-rate mortgage when they refinanced, up from 85 percent a quarter earlier.
Additionally, 99.7 percent of borrowers Read more
Adjustable Rate Mortgages All But Gone
Adjustable-rate mortgages fell further out of fashion this year, according to Freddie Mac’s 25th Annual ARM Survey.
The precipitous decline in adjustable-rate lending was driven by low fixed interest rates and costly premiums for initial interest rates on Treasury-indexed ARMs.
In fact, Freddie’s survey found that starting rates on conforming one-year ARMs priced 1.76 percent higher than the fully-indexed Read more
Alt-A Mortgages Drive ING Loss, Layoffs
Apparently no company is exempt, not even ING, which remained relatively quiet over the past year as the mortgage crisis ravaged hundreds of other seemingly unbreakable financial institutions.
The Dutch Bank said today it expects to lose 3.3 billion euros in the fourth quarter as a result of bad mortgage bets, pushing the company to a 1 billion euro loss for all of 2008.
“In the fourth quarter market Read more
Bank of England base rate: how are mortgages affected?
The Bank of England’s base rate is a very important figure at the heart of the UK economy. It determines how expensive it is for banks to lend and borrow money, and it influences interest rates on consumer loans and saving accounts.
With the current economic situation looking uncertain, there has been much talk about which way the base rate will go. On the one hand, the Bank of England recently dropped the base rate to encourage Read more
Due to Low Mortgage Interest Rates Homeowners Continue to Apply for Mortgages in Record Numbers
Undaunted by the holiday season, consumers continued to apply for mortgages in record numbers last week, according to the latest Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey, released today by The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).
The MBA reports that its Market Composite Index, which measures mortgage loan application volume, shows the number of people applying to refinance their mortgage”:/refinance dipped only 0.4 percent while the purchase Read more
Nearly 10 Percent of All Mortgages Late
A record 6.99 percent of all mortgages tied to one-to-four unit residential properties were delinquent at end of the third quarter, up nearly ten percent from the second quarter and 25 percent from the same period a year ago, the MBA reported today.
That number includes home loans that are at least one payment overdue, but not yet in the foreclosure process.
Another 2.97 percent of all home loans were Read more
Mortgages: Interest rates ‘may not come down’
People looking for a mortgage may have been disappointed to hear a leading banker suggesting mortgage rates might not come down in line with Thursday’s expected base rate cut.
David Hodgkinson, chief operating officer at HSBC, said: “Clearly if interest rates are down significantly, the rates for borrowing will go down. But I am not going to say it is absolutely linear, because it depends on the particular [situation] and the Read more