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STORIES:
Owner
walks away from his loft, then sees someone living inside - (www.latimes.com) The owner had walked away, expecting a foreclosure that never came. The
other man says a real estate agent let him move in and told him where to mail
rent. A battle for the loft begins. Jeffrey Cote was driving home from work one
evening this spring when he noticed a light on inside Unit 312 of the Little
Tokyo Lofts. This was the industrial loft he had bought in downtown Los Angeles
for $647,000 — with no money down — at the top of the market in 2007. He
thought it would be a great investment. It was also the loft he had abandoned
less than two years later, after filing for bankruptcy and expecting the bank
to foreclose. The loft was still in Cote's name, so the light surprised him. A
few weeks later, he and his girlfriend decided to investigate. They got off the
elevator and saw a new welcome mat outside Unit 312. When his key didn't work,
Cote knocked on the door.
Europe’s property loans go unpaid - (www.ft.com) More than 70
per cent of the European commercial property loans that were at the heart of
securitisation deals structured before the subprime crisis and that reached
maturity this year have not been repaid. Fresh figures from Fitch Ratings point
to the continued difficulties facing issuers and investors involved in European
commercial mortgage-backed securities deals that were structured in the
securitisation boom between 2004 and 2006. While the market for CMBS has bounced back in the US, there have been only a
scattering of new issues in Europe. But bondholders in existing European CMBS are in
some cases facing the prospect of lengthy workouts and restructurings. As
property valuations have fallen and banks have offloaded their real estate
portfolios in the face of a tough economic and regulatory environment, it has
become increasingly difficult to refinance European commercial property loans,
including those contained in CMBS vehicles. According to Fitch, only 24 of 122
CMBS loans that matured in the first 11 months of 2012 were fully paid at
maturity, although another 12 paid after maturity. The rest are either in a
workout, at a standstill or have had their loan maturity extended.
Europe's banking union ambitions under strain - (www.reuters.com) Germany and France clashed
publicly on Tuesday over plans to put the European Central Bank in charge of
supervising banks, deepening a dispute over the scope of ECB powers that
threatens to derail one of Europe's boldest reforms. With time running out to
meet a pledge to complete the legal framework for an EU-wide banking union by
the end of the year, Germany's Wolfgang Schaeuble told a meeting of EU finance ministers he
could not support a plan that would give the ECB the final say on supervision. France's
Pierre Moscovici and the ECB protested against any watering down of a plan
central to Europe's response to a five-year banking crisis and which promises
to unify the way it deals with problem lenders, ending a previously haphazard
approach.
Spain's jobless near 5 million as banks await cash - (finance.yahoo.com) The number of people officially registered as unemployed in Spain has
edged up toward 5 million as the country's recession shows few signs of abating
and its struggling banks await crucial bailout cash. Spain's Labor Ministry
said Tuesday that unemployment rose a monthly 74,296 in November, or 1.5
percent, to a record 4.9 million. The country's unemployment rate is released
separately and quarterly. It stood at 25 percent at the end of the third
quarter, with the youth unemployment rate standing well above 50 percent.
Older
homeowners falling more into foreclosure - (www.housingwire.com) Homeowners more than 50 years old are falling into foreclosure
faster than any other age group, particularly widows whose husbands held the
mortgage, said the New York Times.
Foreclosures among homeowners over 50 increased by 23% over the past five
years, resulting in 1.5 million foreclosures. The main reason for the rise in
foreclosures is due to women outliving their spouses and not being able to cop
with ballooning, medical costs, mortgage and pension cuts. Advocates are
petitioning the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to create
guidelines for lenders in scenarios involving surviving relatives. Banks have
also stated that they will work with widows. For example, JPMorgan Chase allows
for surviving relatives to complete a mortgage assumption and loan modification
simultaneously. About 6% of loans held by persons over 50 were delinquent
in 2011, up from 1% in 2007, according to a study by AARP.
