KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Friday October 14 Housing and Economic stories

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Friday October 14 Housing and Economic stories

KeNosHousingPortal.blogspot.com

TOP STORIES:

IMF lax on Europe? Past rescue efforts elsewhere hit private investors harder - (www.washingtonpost.com) As a financial crisis spread through Asia in the late 1990s, the International Monetary Fund prescribed some harsh medicine for countries such as Indonesia and South Korea. Private banks took losses, and there were dozens of bank closures, nationalizations and mergers. But now that Europe faces a crisis, the approach has been different. The IMF and others have tried to ensure that banks and insurance companies get repaid for their numerous loans to indebted countries such as Greece, Portugal and Ireland. The slow pace of confronting problems involving hundreds of billions of dollars in government loans that may or may not be worth their face value has been blamed for dragging out the crisis, and has drawn complaints of a double-standard from Asian officials. Kaushik Basu, an Indian economist, said the IMF’s approach to the crisis buffeting Europe is “not quite what it would be for an emerging country getting into trouble.” Basu, who is vice chairman of a group that represents major emerging nations and advises the IMF, added that in “similar situations you take similar stands, and we are not quite there.”

Greece creditors in bail-out backlash - (www.ft.com) Greece’s private creditors have reacted angrily to suggestions that some eurozone countries want bondholders to suffer bigger losses than those agreed in the second bail-out of Athens. Banks and other bondholders are resisting the idea by lobbying countries such as Germany and the Netherlands, where hardliners are pushing for private creditors to write down more than the current 21 per cent agreed in July’s €109bn Greek rescue, according to people close to the deal. Reopening the deal would be “counter-productive”, said Charles Dallara, managing director of the International Institute of Finance, which has been co-ordinating the response of banks and insurers with large holdings of Greek bonds. “Everybody needs to stay focused and not be distracted.” The backlash from bondholders came as Angela Merkel, German chancellor, warned Greece that its second bail-out might have to be reconsidered if deficit reduction targets were missed.

IPOs Postponed at Record Pace Globally - (www.bloomberg.com) Companies canceled or postponed $8.9 billion in initial public offerings in the third quarter as stocks plunged, putting the market on pace to set a record for pulled deals. The value of withdrawn and delayed IPOs so far this year rose to $34 billion, approaching the $40 billion pulled in 2010, the most since Bloomberg began compiling data. Siemens AG (SIE) suspended an IPO of its Osram lighting unit, while U.S. defense equipment maker ADS Tactical Inc. and Shanghai-based Xiao Nan Guo Restaurants Holdings Ltd. abandoned offerings. The pace of IPOs slowed as equity markets fell to the lowest level in more than a year and stock volatility surged in August to the highest since 2009. In the U.S., delays helped create the biggest backlog of IPOs since at least 2006, with 154 deals as of Sept. 20, according to Ipreo Holdings LLC. “Issuers have learned to be more patient while looking for the right windows,” said Tim Harvey-Samuel, Citigroup Inc.’s London-based head of equity capital markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa. “A number of transactions may slip into 2012.”

New York City: Escape Your Housing Bubble and Move to Reno! - (www.businessinsider.com) New York City people, I have a polite warning and great news! Get out of the house bubble that likely will crash. Get your house sold, pocket the difference and move your whole extended family to Reno, Nevada. You could live in Spanish Springs, Wingfield Springs, or in the North Valleys for 60-80 dollars per square foot. And I am talking about 2000-3500 square foot houses that are nice, some with massive yards, some on or near golf courses. And if you want a new house, you can buy for well under 150 dollars per square foot at D'Andrea golf course. I kid you not. And remember, New Yorkers, Reno is not a suburb of Las Vegas. It has lots to do without being too hot in the summer like Vegas.

Hells Angels accused of mortgage fraud - (www.sfgate.com) A Bay Area mortgage broker has been charged with conspiring to arrange more than $10 million in fraudulent home loans for clients who included two leaders of the Hells Angels, federal prosecutors said Tuesday. A newly unsealed federal grand jury indictment accuses the motorcycle club leaders, the mortgage broker and five other defendants of taking part in a scheme to defraud banks by falsifying loan applications for real estate in San Francisco and several North Bay communities in 2006 and 2007. The applications misrepresented the borrowers' incomes, bank balances and employment histories and falsely stated that they would live at the properties, some of which were later used for marijuana growing, the indictment said.