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October 15, 2008 5:29:17 PM CDT

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Stories related to: housing crisis

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  • October 2008

    • Prosperity Gospel Blamed for Subprime Hell

      Time  |  Oct 4, 08 8:14 AM CDT

      Prosperity Gospel Blamed for Subprime Hell

      (Newser) - A fast-growing strain of Pentecostalism may have made its followers victims of the credit crisis by preaching that God's hand was behind dubious mortgages, Time reports. "Prosperity Gospel" preaches that God will "make way" for the poor to gain wealth, making believers easy prey for greedy mortgage brokers, says a scholar writing a book on black televangelism. More »

      Tags

      subprime mortgages  • housing crisis  • foreclosure  • Christianity  • Pentecostals  • Protestantism

  • September 2008

    • Foreclosures Soar on Homes Over $1M

      MSNBC  |  Sep 27, 08 5:38 PM CDT

      Foreclosures Soar on Homes Over $1M

      (Newser) - The housing crisis, having wreaked havoc on low- and middle-income homeowners, is moving into the mansion set. Foreclosures on $1 million plus homes have almost doubled since last year, MSNBC reports, and more than doubled for homes over $2 million. The reasons are familiar: layoffs in the executive and professional ranks, coupled with huge mortgages, are causing high-end homeowners to miss payments and lose their titles. More »

      Tags

      housing crisis  • foreclosure  • millionaires  • seizure  • luxury homes  • valuation

    • O'Neill on Bush: He Doesn't Get It, and 'It Shows'

      ABC News  |  Sep 26, 08 11:50 AM CDT

      O'Neill on Bush: He Doesn't Get It, and 'It Shows'

      (Newser) - Former Treasury chief Paul O'Neill doesn't have a lot of confidence in the ability of his old boss to find a financial solution, ABC News reports. “I don’t think he understands or knows much about any of this and it shows,” O’Neill said of President Bush. He said the president and other leaders are in a “panic” and acting rashly by rushing the bailout plan. "It is possible to re-liquefy the credit system without ‘We the People’ owning $700 billion worth of homes,” O’Neill said. More »

      Tags

      Financial Crisis  • bailout  • housing crisis  • subprime crisis  • mortgage backed securities

    • Goldman Profit Drops 70%, Still Beats Estimates

      Bloomberg  |  Sep 16, 08 8:37 AM CDT

      Goldman Profit Drops 70%, Still Beats Estimates

      (Newser) - Amid the financial industry's meltdown, survivor Goldman Sachs reported that third-quarter profit plunged by 70%—the sharpest decline in its history as a public company, but still enough to beat estimates of $1.71 per share. The bank dipped 7% in New York trading, Bloomberg reports, after reporting an income decline of $1.81 per share to $845 million. Year-earlier income was $2.85 billion. More »

    • Housing Will Bottom June 30, 2009: Cramer

      New York  |  Sep 8, 08 2:29 PM CDT

      Housing Will Bottom June 30, 2009: Cramer

      (Newser) - Jim Cramer has spent over a year “shouting in my usual unhinged way” about the bleak real estate market, he writes in New York. But now he’s so confident housing’s headed for a bottom that he’ll name the exact date: June 30, 2009. Why? New home construction has fallen spectacularly, and "by next June we won’t be building enough homes to accommodate demand." Congress has authorized $300 billion in FHA loans. Foreclosures and supply will both nosedive as a result. More »

      Tags

      housing market  • housing crisis  • Fannie Mae  • Freddie Mac  • home prices  • housing bubble  • Jim Cramer  • FHA mortgage

    • Juggled Books at Freddie, Fannie Sparked Fed Takeover

      New York Times  |  Sep 7, 08 6:17 AM CDT

      Juggled Books at Freddie, Fannie Sparked Fed Takeover

      (Newser) - Federal advisers pushed for a government takeover of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae after discovering fuzzy accounting that failed to fully reveal the dire nature of the companies' financial situation, reports the New York Times . The practices, while not illegal, overstated the mortgage giants' capital cushions while attempting to delay the announcement of a capital shortfall until next year. Details of the takeover, which will place both companies in a government-run conservatorship, are expected to be announced today. More »

      Tags

      Financial Crisis  • bailout  • housing crisis  • Fannie Mae  • Freddie Mac  • accounting

    • Fannie-Freddie Merger: The Math Adds Up

      New York Times  |  Sep 2, 08 10:54 AM CDT

      Fannie-Freddie Merger: The Math Adds Up

      (Newser) - With Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac struggling to stay afloat, arguments for a merger are gathering steam. “Sometimes size can be a strength,” writes Andrew Ross Sorkin in the New York Times . The companies spent $1.825 billion in total overhead in the first half of 2008 doing exactly the same thing; a merged entity could save some $1.2 billion a year. More »

      Tags

      Financial Crisis  • credit crisis  • housing crisis  • Fannie Mae  • Freddie Mac  • subprime mortgage crisis  • mortgage defaults

  • August 2008

    • Home Sales Up in July; Market Glut Begins to Ease

      Bloomberg  |  Aug 26, 08 10:53 AM CDT

      Home Sales Up in July; Market Glut Begins to Ease

      (Newser) - New home sales rebounded a bit in July, according to Commerce Department data released today, and the glut of properties on the market began to ease, Bloomberg reports. The 2.4% uptick in sales fell short of the pace economists were looking for—hitting a 515,000 annual pace rather than 525,000—but the inventory of unsold homes fell 5.2%, the biggest drop in 45 years, to a 416,000 pace. More »

      Tags

      housing crisis  • subprime mortgage crisis  • home prices  • housing sales

    • Pressure Mounts for a Freddie, Fannie Bailout

      Wall Street Journal  |  Aug 20, 08 9:40 AM CDT

      Pressure Mounts for a Freddie, Fannie Bailout

      (Newser) - A federal bailout for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac looks more likely every day, both the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times report, as the mortgage giants find it increasingly difficult to borrow and their stock continues to take a pounding. Freddie was able to auction $3 billion in debt yesterday, but at unusually hefty interest rates, which in turn could be passed on to borrowers. More »

      Tags

      Financial Crisis  • bailout  • Henry Paulson  • housing crisis  • Fannie Mae  • Freddie Mac  • mortgage rates

    • Feel Good Again About Your Pricey House

      Los Angeles Times  |  Aug 17, 08 7:59 PM CDT

      Feel Good Again About Your Pricey House

      (Newser) - Bought an expensive house right before the subprime crash? Fret not, writes Chris Ayres in the Los Angeles Times . With 5% inflation, lower interest rates, and a mortgage tax deduction, buyers of pricey houses will be smiling in 10 years. "If you're a boom-time buyer who can still pay the mortgage, you have more than you think to feel happy about," writes Ayres. More »

      Tags

      economy  • housing crisis  • interest rate  • homes  • housing bubble  • adjustable-rate mortgages

    • Greenspan: Housing Will Hit Bottom in 2009

      Wall Street Journal  |  Aug 14, 08 11:19 AM CDT

      Greenspan: Housing Will Hit Bottom in 2009

      (Newser) - Alan Greenspan said housing prices could continue to edge lower through 2009, but should “stabilize or touch bottom” in the first six months of the year, reports the Wall Street Journal . And, the former Fed chief says, while a government bailout of Freddie Mac and Fannie May was the right thing to do, the companies should have been nationalized. More »