MORTGAGE

Mortgage securities are not expected to return to any significant growth until 2011, despite efforts to restart the market that provided much of the residential credit during the housing boom, according to a industry survey released on Monday.

U.S. mortgage rates fell for a fourth consecutive week, with 30-year mortgages remaining below 5 percent, a closely watched mortgage survey showed Thursday.

U.S. mortgage applications fell for the first time in four weeks, reflecting a dramatic drop in demand for home refinancing loans, data from an industry group showed on Wednesday.

The Norwegian central bank chief said in a speech on Norwegian housing finance on Monday that loan-to-value ratios were in some cases alarmingly high.

In a sign that the U.S. banking sector's problems are far from over, lenders including Bank of America Corp reported falling bond trading revenue and mortgage lending weakness in the fourth quarter.

Demand for U.S. home loans rose last week for the third straight week as mortgage rates fell to a one-month low and stoked refinancing, an industry group said on Wednesday.

U.S. foreclosure actions shattered all records in 2009 and will do so again this year, with unemployment and wage cuts overcoming programs to remedy failing home loans, RealtyTrac said on Thursday.

U.S. mortgage bonds at the heart of the financial crisis may be revived by Wall Street as soon as this quarter, in what could be the most significant step yet toward repairing the credit and housing markets.

Banks in the UAE, heavily exposed to the region's ailing real estate market, can use a local foreclosure law to reclaim assets, but a sharp increase in reposessions is unlikely for now, lenders and analysts said.

U.S. mortgage applications rose in the first week of 2010, reflecting surging demand for home refinancing loans as interest rates dropped, industry data showed on Wednesday.

U.S. home loan rates could rise by as much as three-quarters of a percentage point in the spring as the Federal Reserve ends its mortgage bonds purchase program, a top Fed policymaker said in an interview published on Saturday.

The joint venture led by Tishman Speyer and BlackRock Inc that owns New York City's vast Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village apartment complex on Friday said it missed making its full loan payment, moving the deal one step closer toward possible foreclosure.

Baltimore's defeat in a lawsuit accusing Wells Fargo & Co of steering minority borrowers to expensive home loans may not derail efforts by local governments to hold the biggest mortgage providers responsible for lending they contend hurts cities.rr

Demand for U.S. mortgages held last week near six-month lows as the highest long-term borrowing costs since August stifled refinancing, a Mortgage Bankers Association survey showed on Wednesday.

Oil eased on Wednesday after U.S. data showed weak mortgage demand in the world's top energy consumer, halting a nine-day rally that has lifted crude futures by 14 percent due to cold weather and geopolitical jitters.

Demand for U.S. mortgages held last week near six-month lows as the highest long-term borrowing costs since August stifled refinancing, a Mortgage Bankers Association survey showed on Wednesday.

U.S. mortgage rates rose in the latest week for a fourth straight week and hit the highest level since August, a closely watched mortgage survey showed on Thursday.

Florida's Miami-Dade County will start using the Internet next month in a bid to help auction off tens of thousands of delinquent properties that have put it on the frontlines of the U.S. foreclosure crisis.

Fannie Mae's gross mortgage portfolio shrank sharply in November while the delinquency rate on single-family loans it guarantees leaped in October, the government-controlled U.S. home funding company said on Monday.

In early December, Simon Property Group Inc, the largest U.S. real estate investment trust and mall owner, obtained a slightly larger revolving credit facility to replace an existing one.

After hitting an all-time low in early December, the average rate on a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage rose to 5.05 percent this week and could climb to 6 percent by the end of 2010, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing U.S. mortgage financier Freddie Mac's latest survey.