25 mai 2008
CRISE FINANCIERE MONDIALE Les banques responsables, selon Warren Buffe
source: Le Nouvel Obs
Dans un entretien au journal El Pais, l'homme le plus riche du monde estime que "les banques se sont trop exposées, elles ont pris trop de risques. Le problème est évident. C'est de leur faute. Ce n'est pas la peine d'accuser quelqu'un d'autre".
Oil's perfect storm may blow over
source: The Telegraph
Auteur: By Ambrose Evans-Pritchard
We see many of the ingredients for a classic asset bubble," said Edward Morse, Lehman's oil expert. This
week has seen a dramatic surge in oil contracts dated as far forward as
2016. Futures have moved higher than the spot price, a rare event known
as "contango".
This can cut both ways: either as a sign of an impending
supply crunch years hence; or that the futures market has become
unhinged from reality.
Growth goes out of fashion in a 1970s-style recurring nightmare
source: The Guardian
'For those of us that cut our teeth in the 1970s market, there's now an
acute sense of deja vu. One keeps hoping it's just a Life On Mars-type
experience, but reality sadly prevails,' says Ian Briggs of estate
agents Dacre, Son and Hartley, which has 20 branches across the region
selling mid-priced home
rA eport by investment bank Dresdner Kleinwort says Britain's housing
market is threatened with recession 'by highly speculative development,
lending and valuation practices, which have led to oversupply of flats
in cities across the country, most notably Leeds'. The city has become
an embarrassment to the British housing industry.
Tough times all round as sales drop and fears rise
source: The Independent
It is now abundantly clear that the collapse in the housing market has led Ireland into virtual recession, culminating in plummeting consumer confidence and retail sales.
Our economy is now beset by slipping sales, rising unemployment, faster than anticipated increases in consumer prices and much tougher lending criteria for borrowers. These all point the way to a very difficult time in the months ahead.
Almost 150,000 in NZ could lose homes
source: TheAge.com
But nearly 150,000 households with mortgages face that risk, according to research published in the Sunday Star-Times.
That is the number of households under serious mortgage stress because of the increases in interest rates imposed by the Reserve Bank, and the tax cuts announced in the budget are forecast to delay and minimise any relief that governor Alan Bollard may have been contemplating.
Why a Housing Bailout Won't Help
source: The Wall Street Journal
A real quandary for policy makers may soon be how to handle the subprime debris – the physical waste – of housing complexes far from town, unwanted by anybody with the wherewithal to maintain them. Here, a word on bubbles. Dropping a bundle to build a new fiber network as the Internet is taking off is not necessarily a bad idea. The decision by other people to do the same is what makes it a bad idea. That's what happened in housing too – helped by cheap money from the Fed and a credit-manufacturing process that gave too many homebuyers a one-way bet on home prices.
One sure way to guarantee bubbles without end is to institutionalize that one-way bet. That's what a bailout would end up doing for those ultimately responsible for directing a large chunk of the nation's savings into unwanted, uneconomic housing.
HSBC under new attack over US losses
source: The Independent
They need to shut it down," said Mr Suarez. "The business is so far under the water that they would only be able to sell it for a negative value. We plan to use next Friday's meeting to press our case further."
Oil costs up, house prices down - good news
source: Times
The price of oil is soaring worldwide, a “crisis” that has dominated the past
week’s front pages. Meanwhile, the price of housing is plummeting, a crisis
that dominated the previous week’s front pages and in terms no less
apocalyptic. Prices rising, prices falling, all bad news ... I wonder what
good news would look like
The boom/bust in oil and house prices is, quite simply, good news, whatever
the tangential pain. It shows that the good ship Gaia, planet Earth, is
traumatising its passengers into husbanding its scarce resources. Above all
they must ration living space, for which the West has been appallingly
greedy, and carbon fuel, of which the same is true.
Gloom, doom and job losses
source: The Independent
The Live Register is not an entirely accurate measure of unemployment as it
includes part-time and casual workers. Nevertheless the number of people
claiming benefit has increased by almost 45,000 in a year.
Current job losses, the slump in the public finances and a general fall in
confidence can all be blamed on the burst property bubble. The global credit
crunch and the drop in sterling and the dollar are making life harder for
our exporters.
Downturn in property market brings prices back to earth
source: Viet Nam News
According to a report from Viet Nam Land Company earlier this month, apartment prices are dropping by roughly 10 per cent. Cotect Phu Xuan in Nha Be District recorded loss rates from 12.5 per cent to half of the initial asking price.
"Viet Nam has just learned that its real estate market is no different from others around the world. What goes up, indeed does come down," said Brett Ashton, managing director of Savills Viet Nam Ltd.
Experts also agree that the inexperience of Vietnamese investors and weak management also contributed to the bubble burst.