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STORIES:
Foreclosure
bus tours - (www.sfgate.com) The large number of
bank-owned properties nationwide has popularized a new kind of real estate
tour: the foreclosure bus. A recent Chicago Tribune article described
a tour where shoppers were helped along not just by agents but by an attorney
and banker who specialize in foreclosures, and by day’s end, the would-be
landlords, flippers and homeowners had put in several bids. A Chronicle article from a few years
back said one tour guide even incorporates entertainment and a
luxury bus. In the Bay Area, Hastings Reality Group,
for one, drives Saturday foreclosure buses through San Francisco, San Mateo,
Alameda, Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties. Here are some of the bank-owned
properties you might view if you board Hastings’ Bay Area Foreclosure Bus:
Merkel,
Hollande clash on EU budget czar before summit - (www.reuters.com) Germany and France, Europe's two central powers,
clashed over greater European Union control of national budgets and moves towards
a single banking supervisor before a summit of the bloc's leaders began on
Thursday. German Chancellor Angela Merkel demanded stronger authority for the
executive European Commission to veto national budgets that breach EU rules,
but French President Francois Hollande said the issue was not on the summit
agenda and the priority was to get moving on a European banking union.
Spain Banks Face More Pain as Worst-Case Scenario Turns Real
- (www.bloomberg.com) Spain’s
banks face more loan losses as the pace of an economic slump risks turning a
worst-case scenario dismissed in stress tests into reality. Bad loans as a proportion of total lending jumped to
a record 10.5 percent in August from a restated 10.1 percent in July as 9.3
billion euros ($12.2 billion) of loans were newly classified as being in
default, according to data published by the Bank of Spain on its website today.
The ratio has climbed for 17 straight months from 0.72 percent in December
2006, before Spain’s property boom turned to bust. Spanish bank stress tests by
management consultants Oliver Wyman have factored in an economic contraction
totaling 6.5 percent from 2012 to 2014 in an adverse scenario that the
government and Bank of Spain said has a probability of about 1 percent.
Analysts at Nomura and Citigroup Inc. disagree, saying spending cuts and
economic conditions mean the worst-case outcome already looks feasible.
Greeks go on strike over austerity as EU meets - (www.reuters.com) Greek police clashed with
anti-austerity protesters hurling stones and petrol bombs on the day of a
general strike that brought much of the near-bankrupt country to a standstill. In
the second major walkout in three weeks on Thursday, almost 40,000 protesters
marched in Athens in a bid to show EU leaders meeting in Brussels that new wage
and pension cuts will only worsen their plight after five years of recession. Tensions
mounted when a small group of protesters began throwing pieces of marble,
bottles and petrol bombs at police barricading part of the square in front of
parliament, prompting riot police to fire several rounds of teargas to disperse
them.
CMBS
Faces Risk of ‘Disruptive Shocks' Regulators Told - (www.bloomberg.com) Commercial mortgage-backed
securities have more risk than last year as landlords need to repay maturing
debt and vacancies remain elevated, according to an analysis prepared for
insurance regulators. “Downside risk for CMBS relative to last year’s assumptions
has clearly increased,” according to a report for
the National Association of Insurance Commissioners posted
on the group’s website. The market is “proving itself subject to highly
disruptive shocks” and has less time to deal with the coming wave of loan
maturities, consultants and NAIC staff said in the report. Regulators are
scrutinizing bonds held by insurers as they evaluate whether the companies will
have enough funds for policyholder obligations in an economic slump. The
report, dated Oct. 16, was sent to Kevin Fry, chairman of the NAIC’s task force
for valuation of securities. State regulators can demand insurers hold more
funds against assets deemed risky.
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