KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Friday July 3 Housing and Economic stories

Thursday, July 2, 2015

Friday July 3 Housing and Economic stories

Australian housing market facing 'bloodbath' collapse: economists - (www.smh.com.au) The Australian real estate market is in the grip of the biggest housing bubble in the nation's history and Melbourne will be at the epicentre of an historic "bloodbath" when it bursts, according to two housing economists: A bloodbath in the housing market, however, appears a near certainty due to the magnitude of falls required for housing prices to again reflect economic fundamentals. Lindsay David and Philip Soos, who have written books on the overheated housing market, have berated the housing industry and politicians who refuse to acknowledge the existence of a bubble due to a perceived shortage of housing in the major capitals. n a blunt submission to the upcoming parliamentary inquiry into home ownership, the pair claim there is actually an oversupply of housing, just as there was in the US before the market collapse that precipitated the global financial crisis.

Exclusive: Bank of Greece warned bankers of 'difficult' day if no debt deal - (www.reuters.com) The head of the Bank of Greece warned bankers last week to brace for a "difficult day" on Tuesday if the Athens government does not reach a deal with creditors at an emergencyeuro zone summit on Monday, two senior bankers told Reuters. Bank of Greece Governor Yannis Stournaras called a special meeting with top bankers on Friday to discuss the mounting crisis in the banking sector after a flood of withdrawals that passed a billion euros a day toward the end of the week. They said Stournaras did not talk about capital controls being imposed on Greek banks, which rely on European Central Bank support to keep operating, but he made it clear that the situation would be serious.

Quicken Loans Busted For Deceptive Practices Again! - (www.mfi-miami.com) Washington State Accuses Quicken Loans Of Deceiving Active Military Personnel & Veterans. The state of Washington is charging Quicken Loans with targeting 35,000 active military personnel and veterans with deceptive mortgage offers. The Consumer Services Division of the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions claims that Quicken Loans falsely implied they were associated with the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs. The DFI claims that in 2014 Quicken Loans distributed more than 60 different direct mailings in the state of Washington that offered active military personnel and veterans living in Washington the opportunity to obtain VA guaranteed mortgage loans. The DFI contends that the claims made by Quicken Loans in the mailings contain violations of state and federal laws prohibiting false, deceptive, and misleading advertising.

Affluent Greeks fret as they teeter on the edge - (www.ft.com) On a recent evening at the Semiramis hotel in Athens’ leafy, affluent northern suburbs, raspberries floated in champagne flutes and men in linen shirts smoked cigars by the pool as the city’s elite tried to pretend that the country was not on the edge of economic collapse. Hours earlier, €1.6bn had fled Greece’s banks, prompting Athens to appeal to the European Central Bank for more emergency funding as a stand-off between international creditors and the country’s populist government continued. At the poolside birthday, well-heeled businessmen, politicians, academics and socialites gossiped in hushed tones about when the banks might close or limit cash withdrawals. They also unleashed angry barbs at a government they blame for worsening the current crisis and expressed desperate, faltering optimism that eurozone leaders might still come to their rescue.

JPMorgan: Greece's Financial System Just Had a Terrible Week - (www.bloomberg.com) Outflows appear to be accelerating. Failure to reach an agreement between Greek and European Union leaders last week spelled bad news for the banking system of the Hellenic Republic. Talk of capital controls is heating up, and with it the amount of money being pulled from Greece appears to be accelerating. JPMorgan analysts led by Nikolaos Panigirtzoglou estimate that Greek banks lost about 6 billion euros in the week ending June 19. That takes total deposit outflows from Greece to about 44 billion euros since the beginning of the year. The analysts use Greeks' purchases of offshore money market funds as a proxy to generate early estimates of those numbers.

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