Real Estate News - November 2008

The following news stories are those which are most important for understanding the house price crash and the impact on house prices going forward...

November 28-29-30

FT: UK house prices fell at 0.4% in November

FT: Cash is king in weak property sector

FT: FSA bolsters protection for savers

Wall Street Journal: US Home Prices Continue to Drop

Times: New mortgages fall 52% amid homeloan warning

November 27

Times: Homeowners desperate to attract buyers have cut asking prices by an average of nearly £17,000 over the past fortnight

New York Times: The European Commission proposed a €200 billion (£168 billion, $258 billion) rescue package and China cut interest rates by 108 basis points

Times: MFI, Britain’s biggest furniture retailer, collapsed into administration last night for the second time in two months – putting more than 1,000 jobs at risk

Times: Woolworths went into administration last night, putting thousands of high street jobs at risk despite last-ditch government efforts to save it

FT: Investor buys entire street at cut prices

FT: Savings rates start to fall

FT: Buy to let landlords being squeezed

FT: Financial markets notched up another historic milestone on Wednesday as the yield on 10-year US Treasury debt fell below 3 per cent for the first time in 50 years

FT: Fears over UK borrowing levels

November 26

Marketwatch: U.S. Oct. new-home sales fall 5.3% to 433,000 pace

Times: Taylor Wimpey 'close to' debt-for-equity swap - The company’s banks and other lenders are set to own a single-digit stake in the ailing business as shares plummet

Telegraph: Fears mount that Government will default on bonds - Investors are betting that there is a greater chance of the UK Government defaulting on its debts than crisis hit banks

FT: Funding problems take heavy toll on Paragon

Times: Fresh $800bn from US Fed raises bailout to $1.7 trillion

FT: Plunge in mortgage approvals adds to gloom

Reuters: Fed throws fresh lifeline to stressed households

November 25

New York Times: US home sales dropped and prices plunged again in October, an indication that the pain currently pulsing through the housing market is not likely to abate soon

Bloomberg: London, Tokyo, New York Office Rents Fall First Time Since 2002

FT: US house prices drop is biggest in 40 years

Marketwatch: U.S. Oct. existing home sales fall 3.1% to 4.98 mln units

FT: Tax hit to fund £20bn fiscal stimulus

Times: Alistair Darling's £1 trillion debt gamble

FT: Highlights of the chancellor’s speech

FT: Homeowners facing repossession or struggling to meet mortgage payments after losing their jobs will receive extra support from the government following Monday’s pre-Budget report

November 22-23-24

Marketwatch: U.S. Oct. existing home sales fall 3.1%, prices fall 11.3%

FT: Lenders lower mortgage rates but raise hurdles

Times: The Irish government has agreed to take part in a €3 billion (£2 billion) bailout of Bank of Ireland that will be led by private equity. The deal would be the first state aid for an Irish bank

Marketwatch: Citigroup shares rocketed more than 60% higher Monday after federal officials agreed to a $326 billion rescue of the company that was once the largest U.S. bank as it pioneered the one-stop-shop model combining business and consumer financial services

FT: Bring back the link between gold and the dollar

FT: Standard Chartered plans £1.8bn rights issue

November 21

FT: Runaway borrowing to trigger tax rises

FT: Reykjavik borrows $10bn to stave off collapse

Times: Mortgage debt forces thousands to sell up

Telegraph: Switzerland's shock rate cut unnerves markets

Times: Citigroup is expected to need up to $100 billion (£67.5 billion) in the next 18 months from another government bailout

FT: Japan unexpectedly posted a Y63.9bn ($679m) trade deficit in October, intensifying concerns that the country is being pushed deeper into recession

Times: Home repossessions rise 12% as economy worsens

Marketwatch: New York Federal Reserve President Tim Geithner picked to be next Treasury Sectretary

Wall Street Journal: Shocks in Commercial Mortgage Trigger Selloff in REIT Stocks

November 20

Reuters: S&P dives to lowest level since 1997

Reuters: Oil drops 7 percent to 3-1/2-year low below $50

Times: Iceland secures $4.6bn rescue package

Times: Minutes of MPC meeting boost hope of further rate cut

FT: Fed vows to avert deflation

FT: The number of properties being sold rose for the second month in a row during October as sellers began to price their homes more realistically

November 19

FT: Rents hit by surge in supply of homes

Intependent: Wolseley, the troubled plumbing and building materials group, yesterday refused to rule out the need for a rights issue next year as the company struggles against what it described as "unprecedented circumstances", cuts another 2300 jobs

Times: Wall Street looks to interest rates of 0.5%

Times: Barclays customers wait almost a year to benefit from rate cut

Wall Street Journal: CMBS Market Begins to Show Fissures

Marketwatch: Housing starts fall to lowest-ever level in October

Marketwatch: Modified mortgages often re-default

FT: Government-backed efforts to make it easier for homeowners to avoid foreclosure by modifying their mortgages could further depress the value of mortgage-backed securities and force banks to take more writedowns

Reuters: Wall Street sinks to lowest since 2003

Reuters: Fed signals ready to cut rates amid glum outlook

Reuters: GM shares at 66-year low amid bailout doubt

November 18

Times: House rents fall as unsold properties flood market

November 15-16-17

Wall Street Journal: Freddie Needs $13.8 Billion as Mortgage Defaults Worsen

FT: Why the British may decide to love the euro

FT: Japan enters first recession in 7 years

FT: Buy-to-let troubles linked to new rules

Mortgage Solutions: Sellers slash house prices by 2.9%

Property Week: UK property values in October plunge to 22-year low says IPD

Property Week: Sellers withdraw as prices dive

New York Times: Downturn Drags More Consumers Into Bankruptcy

Reuters: Citigroup to slash 52,000 jobs

November 14

FT: Credit crunch spreads to cards

FT: Foreclosure of a dream

FT: Rightmove grim on membership

Telegraph: Germany has become the first of the G7 powers to declare an official recession. It will almost certainly be followed by France and Italy as growth collapses across the eurozone

Times: Job cuts all around

Reuters: Paulson says additional bank capital needed

November 13

FT: Financial groups’ losses near $1,000bn

FT: The pound plunged to new lows against the euro on Wednesday after the Bank of England issued its bleakest assessment of the economy in 15 years

Reuters: FBR sees Fannie Mae losing $20-$40 billion in next 4 quarters

FT: The US government on Wednesday abandoned its plan to buy toxic assets, feeding a gathering sense of gloom as investors fled from risk and US equity markets sank to levels approaching their October lows

Marketwatch: RealtyTrac: Foreclosure activity soars again, up 25% since last year

Times: The jobs of up to 15,000 estate agents are under threat if house sales show no sign of recovering, industry experts fear

Property Week: Great Portland Estates suffered a 15.3% plunge in its net asset value in six months, as the worsening financial markets took their toll on its London portfolio

Property Week: Capital & Regional funds suffer 6% value decline in just one month

Reuters: Jobless claims hit 25-year high, imports plunge

November 12

Times: Sterling hit as funding fears mount over soaring government borrowing

FT: The World Bank is set to provide up to $100bn in new aid to developing countries, amid fears that the spreading effects of the financial crisis could devastate poorer and middle-income states

Marketwatch: U.K. house transactions fell further in October

FT: Stamp duty holiday no help to home buyers

Telegraph: Russia lifts rates to 12pc to save rouble as crisis deepens

Property Week: Hypo Real Estate’s €50bn (£40.8bn) government-led bailout package has been finalised

Marketwatch: Zillow: A third of home sellers are losing money

November 11

FT: Sweden faces first big bank collapse

Times: Home sales plummet to new low as Nationwide says lending has dropped 70%

FT: American Express became the latest financial group to convert to a bank holding company in a surprise move on Monday that will give the credit card group permanent access to Federal Reserve funds and could facilitate consolidation in the sector.

FT: Santander to launch €7.2bn rights issue

FT: Fannie Mae posts record $29bn loss

Times: Corporate America suffered another grim day yesterday as Circuit City, the electrical retailer, filed for bankruptcy protection, DHL announced almost 10,000 job losses and shares in General Motors sank to their lowest level since 1946

Reuters: Fannie Mae may tap government cash to avoid liquidation

Property Week: Taylor Wimpey extends debt negotiations but remains pessimistic on UK housing recovery

Marketwatch: Home builder says buyer traffic, demand plummet after financial crisis

November 8-9-10

FT: Property valuations come with caveats

FT: Few areas escape commercial property slump

FT: AIG gets revised $150bn state bail-out

FT: High Court blow for UK homeowners

Marketwatch: Why next year's home buyers should pay attention to credit scores today

Marketwatch: Home prices down 9.3% in 2008: NAR

November 7

FT: UK house prices fell 2.2 per cent in October from September, and 15.5 per cent from a year ago, according to the latest Halifax House Price Index, wiping out gains on housing equity earned since October 2005

FT: Lenders snub calls to cut rates

FT: UK rates fall to 53-year low

FT: The outlook for homeowners, first-time buyers, savers and investors

FT: Analysts warn EU banks still need injections

Bloomberg: Bank of Korea Reduces Rates for Third Time in a Month

Marketwatch: FDIC, regulators seize Houston-based Franklin Bank, the 18th to fail this year

Marketwatch: Home prices down 9.3% in 2008: NAR

Reuters: Jobless rate at 14-year high as losses continue

November 6

FT: Demand for London offices tumbles

FT: Bradford & Bingley loan book concerns

FT: Allied Irish Banks issued a profits warning as it more than doubled provisions for future bad loans to reflect the deteriorating domestic property market

FT: ‘Weak’ outlook for housing says Redrow

Times: Homeowners warned not to expect cheaper repayments

FT: Reduction in 0% credit cards deals

FT: Tracker mortgages axed as rate cut expected

FT: Ambac and MBIA suffer further losses

FT: GMAC, General Motors’ financing arm, on Wednesday said there was “substantial doubt” as to whether Residential Capital, its mortgage finance unit, would survive without support

Marketwatch: ECB cuts key rate to 3.25% from 3.75%

Marketwatch: Bank of England issues stunning 1.5% rate cut

FT: Wells Fargo said on Wednesday it planned to sell at least $10bn of stock to fund its acquisition of Wachovia, the troubled east coast lender, to create the fourth-largest US bank by assets

FT: Lehman collapse weighs on BNP’s profits

November 5

FT: Swedbank became the first Swedish bank to seek state help to lower its funding costs by signing up for the government’s SKr1,500bn ($197bn) guarantee programme

FT: One of Britain’s largest mortgage providers on Tuesday pre-empted an expected cut in interest rates by announcing a rise in mortgage rates, defying ministers who want banks to lower the cost of borrowing

Times: Jobs in peril as the relationship between banks and companies worsens, says CBI

Times: Corporate debt refinancing is the next crisis

FT: Australia cuts rates to 5.25%

FT: Italy to set aside €30bn to keep banks lending

FT: Why agreeing a new Bretton Woods is vital

FT: RBS chief blames predecessors for bail-out

Times: More jobs are lost as British car sales head for sharpest decline in 17 years

November 4

FT: Scarborough Building Society is to merge with its larger rival Skipton in the latest crisis-triggered tie-up among mutual lenders

FT: HBOS writedowns double to £5.18bn

FT: US car sales sink to lowest level for 25 years

FT: Spanish real estate debts turn toxic

Times: UK unemployment will top 7 per cent, says Brussels

Times: HSBC will not pass on Bank's rate cut

Telegraph: France threatens to seize banks, German bail-outs escalate

November 1-2-3

Wall Street Journal: Massive Effort to Save Mortgages

Wall Street Journal: FDIC Plan Tests Limits of Leniency

FT: Builders braced for new writedowns

FT: Need for property benchmark intensifies

FT: India makes emergency rate cut

FT: Brown, Sarkozy seek ‘new Bretton Woods’

FT: Portugal to nationalise local bank

Times: Three million homeowners face negative equity trap

Property Week: UK property losses rack up due to mounting capital value deflation, says IPD

Property Week: Demand from occupiers falls at fastest rate in decade, says RICS

Property Week: London house prices drop at record rate says Knight Frank

New York Times: Consumers Feel the Next Crisis: It’s Credit Cards

Reuters: Auto sales plunge to near 25-year lows