Promoters who just a few years ago could sell new homes just by showing crude blueprints — they didn't even bother to build pilot houses or apartments — are now desperate, and sometimes give away a year's worth of mortgage payments, cars, trips and other freebies to lure buyers. So banks worried over the prospect of defaults are now much more miserly, ending the once-common practice of financing 100 percent or even more of a home purchase, and raising the threshold for what people need to earn in order to qualify for a loan. The problem is the banks have turned off the spigot,” said Jesus Duque, vice president of Alfa, a Spanish real estate chain with 600 offices around the country. The credit crunch has had no direct, major effect in Spain or an equivalent version because lending standards here are tougher than in America, real estate people say. read more

During the November historic days, with remarkable heroism and dedication the Georgian people put an end to Saakashvili

PK - news - people ), Hong Kong’s biggest developer, lost 5. PK - news - people ) (Holdings), was 6. OB - news - people ) Index dropped 170. PK - news - people ) lost 30 cents or 1. read more

Instead of taking out a mortgage from a bank which would retain the loan on its books and, therefore, have to provision reserves to pay its depositors in case of defaults, more and more homebuyers have seen their loans immediately repackaged by their banks—or mortgage companies, which aren’t even banks (and, therefore, are neither regulated like banks, nor required, as banks are, to provision reserves against potential defaults on loans; according to a recent survey in the Economist , nearly half of all mortgages fall into this category in the US). And once it became clear (HSBC announced its earnings would be negatively impacted due to its American subsidiary’s exposure to subprime loans in March, and the bad news kept coming in, at an accelerating rate, through the Spring and early Summer) that foreclosures would rise precipitously as the US economy slowed and interest rates went up, and as a vast pile of variable-rate mortgages were due to reset at much higher rates of interest, investors began to bail. Funds placed by the banks in conduits and SIVs do not have to be reported on their balance sheets (as loans do), and, hence, the banks do not have to provide reserves on them on case underlying loans do not get paid off. And, on the consumer side, the Financial Times reports that the Fed cuts so far will do little to alleviate the strain on those trying to pay back subprime debts, because a whopping “73 per cent of adjustable-rate subprime loans are based on the six-month London interbank lending rate,” not the Federal Funds rate. On November 2d, Reuters reported that another big bank, Merrill Lynch, was accused by an analyst of attempting to delay losses on billions of dollars from troubled assets by sheltering them in hedge funds (remember, Hedge Funds aren’t required to observe the same reporting requirements as regulated financial institutions, which gives them potential leeway to obscure losses). read more

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Penalties of approximately $513 thousand ($316 thousand during the first quarter and $197 thousand during the second quarter) associated with the early payoff of these advances have been reflected as an interest expense adjustment in the net interest margin for the nine months ended September 30, 2007. Excluding the gains from the called investment securities of $508 thousand, the gain recorded from the sale of the former operations center of $324 thousand in 2007 or prior year gains from the sale of real estate of $856 thousand, investment securities of $276 thousand or SBIC income of $150 thousand, the increase in noninterest income was $534 thousand, or 4. For the three months ended September 30, 2007, net income for the mortgage segment declined $222 thousand, from $51 thousand net income to a net loss of $171 thousand, compared to the same quarter in 2006. For the nine months ended September 30, 2007, mortgage segment net income declined $694 thousand, from net income of $221 thousand to a net loss of $473 thousand. read more

VALLETTA, Malta (di-ve news) — October 15, 2007 -2130CEST — Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi has delivered a ‘families first’ budget which the PN hope will win the party a third successive term in office at the next general election. Among the ‘family-friendly’ measures announced an increase in maternity leave to 14 weeks as well as children’s allowance paid to parents with an annual income of more than Lm10,270/€23,922. The Prime Minister also announced further help for working families with the costs of childcare as allowance on expenses related to childcare services was extended to parents whose children attend kindergarten. In further measures in favour of children, the Prime Minister announced that the allowance for orphans will be increased by Lm4. Delivering his fourth budget, a confident Lawrence Gonzi added that by balancing affordable tax cuts and long-term investment, the government would meet the needs of not just some but all of Maltese families. read more

Last week, Anshell Chibuye took a day off work as a turbine operator in one of the largest copper mines in the world - Zambia’s Konkola - to bury his 20-year-old nephew, who had died of malaria. Copper is used in everything from electrical wiring, phone and internet lines to computers and cars, and since Zambia’s copper mines were privatised at the insistence of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the metal has quadrupled in value to about £4,000 per tonne. On behalf of the Zambian government, the London-based firms parcelled the mines and smelters, which were then losing £500,000 a week after years of underinvestment and low commodity prices, into seven entities. Zambia’s mines are now owned by the likes of Canada’s First Quantum Minerals, Glencore International, the firm founded by controversial American commodity trader Marc Rich, and Vedanta Resources, the UK-quoted mining firm run by Indian billionaire Anil Agarwal. Stung by being virtually wiped out in Zambia’s Copperbelt region in last year’s elections, Mwanawasa has forced mining firms to the renegotiation table. Professor John Lungu, a respected academic at Zambia’s Copperbelt University, says the World Bank told the government that some of the mines to be sold had just seven years of life in them. read more

The Irish Independent reports that huge numbers of people are now taking out new mortgages in a bid to pay off car loans, clear expensive credit card bills and get rid of credit union loans. A new survey by the Irish Mortgage Corporation found that the main reasons people gave for refinancing their homeloan was to pay off a car or personal loan, get rid of high-interest credit card balances or pay off a credit union loan. Mr Conway said consumers had the option of paying the mortgage off over 25 or 30 years, but paying off the car loan or credit card debt part of it over four years. Criminals may try to get your personal financial details by claiming to be your bank or credit card company. You get an email or letter that asks you to confirm your bank account details, PIN number or credit card number. The Financial Times reports that Nokia , the world’s largest mobile telephone manufacturer, is to take a giant step into the fast-growing mobile content and services market by acquiring Navteq , the leading provider of digital map information, for $8. read more