Canadian Funding Corp Reviews CMHC Sustainability Reports

NEW YORK, July 16, 2009 (Reuters) — U.S. home builder sentiment in July jumped to its highest level since September as improved sales conditions boosted confidence in the market for new single-family homes, an industry group said on Thursday.

A worker constructs a new home in Geneva, Illinois, June 23, 2009. REUTERS/Jeff Haynes

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The National Association of Home Builders said its preliminary NAHB/Wells Fargo Housing Market Index was 17 in July, up from 15 in June.

Readings below 50 in the index, which was launched in January 1985, indicate more builders view market conditions as poor rather than favorable. The July index was above expectations of 16, based on a Reuters survey of economists.

“In an encouraging sign, the improvement was driven by a 3 point gain in the index of present conditions to 17, implying a pickup in new home sales,” said Michelle Meyer, an economist at Barclays Capital in New York.

“The fact that the gain was driven by current conditions is a positive sign, suggesting home buyer interest increased despite the rise in mortgage rates over June,” she said.

The rise in home builder sentiment is a positive for the U.S. housing market, which has been showing some signs of stabilization, with sales rising and home price declines moderating in many regions of the country.

“Builders are seeing slightly better sales conditions this month as consumers take advantage of the first-time buyer tax credit, low interest rates and attractive home prices,” NAHB Chairman Joe Robson, a home builder from Tulsa, Oklahoma, said in a statement.

The government’s $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers, part of the economic stimulus package, is helping boost sales.

But there is concern about what lies ahead, Robson added.

“A true recovery in the housing market and overall economy cannot take place until the continuing foreclosure crisis is abated and a decent flow of credit is restored to housing production,” Robson said.

“Meanwhile, the stalled jobs market is a major concern to builders and potential home buyers alike,” he said.

The gauge of current single-family homes sales rose to 17 from 14. The index of sales expected in the next six months, however, was unchanged at 26. But the measure of prospective-buyer traffic climbed, rising to 14 from 13, the group said.

The U.S. housing market is suffering the worst downturn since the Great Depression as a huge supply of unsold homes, tighter lending standards and record foreclosures push down home prices.

HOME BUILDERS ARE HURTING

U.S. home builders, struggling under sinking demand and a credit crisis, have faced a flood of homes in foreclosure.

But, interest rates on mortgages have fallen in recent weeks, a key development that could help turn the hard-hit housing sector around.

Home builders have curbed their new construction. They have also been reducing their inventories of unsold homes by slashing prices at the expense of profits to pay off debt and keep afloat.

“Although today’s HMI is positive news that helps confirm the market is bouncing around a bottom, the gain was entirely contained in the component gauging current sales conditions, while the component gauging sales expectations for the next six months remained virtually flat for a fourth consecutive month,” NAHB Chief Economist David Crowe said in a statement.

“Builders recognize the recovery is going to be a slow one and that we are facing a number of substantial negative forces,” he said.

On a regional basis, the housing market index declined in only one of the four regions in July. The Midwest was unchanged at 14 and the South posted a five-point increase to 20. The Northeast posted a three-point decrease to 16. The West was unchanged at 15 this month.

http://www.newsdaily.com/stories/tre56f599-us-usa-housing-homebuilders/

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC  canadian funding corp CEO

The G-8 summit starts today in L’Aquila, Italy. The G-8 are the old guard: US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Japan, Canada and Russia. And their opinions are starting to look a little redundant in the aftermath of the credit crisis.

The credit crisis has shifted the balance of power. Not since the days of the conquistadors has there been such an imbalance. Back then the Pope was the ultimate power and carved the New World in two between Spain and Portugal. Now it’s the split between old and new economies.

The levels of debt raised by the developed nations to bail out their banking systems is crippling compared to the emerging nations.  According to recent International Monetary Fund forecasts by 2014 the debt of economies in the developed world are expected to be more than 114% of GDP (up from 78% in 2006).  The forecasts for the emerging economies (including China) is just 35% (down from 38% in 2006).

With most of the developed nations in the worst economic condition since the second world war, the balance of power is clearly shifting in favor of the large emerging nations. China and India in particular.

Added to their new found lack of financial flexibility, the G-8 nations have another major problem: a lack of harmony in their thinking. Germany and Canada have been calling for a steady wind down of the emergency liquidity measures while the UK and US continue to favor pumping cash into the economies.

On the other hand the leaders of 5 major developing Economies (China, India, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa) are holding their own parallel meeting. This follows on from the first ever BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) summit held last month in Russia. The developing powers are quickly putting in place their own structures and the old world is in danger of being left out of the new world order. The closer these developing powers become politically the less likely the dollar is to remain as the world’s reserve currency. Remember the BRIC nations currently hold some US$1.1 trillion of US government debt. At the BRIC summit Russia was calling for a move away from the US dollar.  It feels more and more like a whenrather than an if situation.

As investors, we are often faced with difficult decisions, especially those which involve putting cold hard facts ahead of personal feelings. We are entering such a phase now. We need to put aside our personal nationalism in the face of an obvious global power shift. Jim Rogers said in an interview last year that the best investment you could give your kids today is to buy them Chinese lessons. We agree.

As far as our financial portfolios are concerned we need to make sure we are having our piece of the emerging pie. There are unique risks to investing in the emerging world (e.g. political instability, weak legal systems etc) and you really have to do your homework. I would recommend keeping your exposure to less than 10% of your total portfolio. Also stick to highly liquid assets, like stocks and bonds. You don’t want to wake up finding that you never really owned that real estate you bought in China and it has been bulldozed to build a sports stadium, now do you?

http://www.contrarianprofits.com/articles/could-a-bric-alliance-crash-the-dollar/18846

reviewed by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO

The Real Estate Council of Alberta has resolved to take the issue of fraud very seriously. It is a fact that of late many Alberta residents have been victimized by mortgage fraud upon being lured by promises of big returns. There have also been cases where some person has quite unknowingly allowed a fraudulent act to become a part of their action which has given shape to the plan of some fraud mastermind.

Mortgage fraud and the victims of fraud in real estate purchase

Mortgage fraud is defined as the material misstatement, misrepresentation or omission that is relied upon by an underwriter or lender for funding, purchasing or insuring a mortgage loan. The misstatement, misrepresentation or omission refers to the lies as also the white lies. In case a lender makes an advancement of mortgage money while telling any small lie regarding the borrower’s income, property value, intended use of property etc. then a mortgage fraud is said to have occurred.

Common victims of fraud are those who have purchased real estate whose values have been over inflated by a series of fraudulent transactions. In this way several consumers have had incurred huge financial losses and their credit ratings have been damaged.

Dealing with real estate related fraud in Alberta

This is a crime and you need be informed and armed beforehand to effectively combat the damaging influence of mortgage fraud. You need to beware when approached for opting for any scheme set to help make quick and easy money in real estate. Caution needs to be observed when your name is being taken down for credit purposes or when you are being asked to create or alter certain documents in a real estate or mortgage transaction. If you are suspecting that you can get involved in a fraudulent transaction then you ought to immediately report such suspicions to the Real Estate Council of Alberta (RECA) for them to take suitable action.

In an effort to reduce mortgage fraud relating to the real estate market of Alberta, Canada the RECA has taken up several initiatives-

- Efforts have been made to bring about a change in the industry by introducing mandatory mortgage fraud awareness course, improved investigative resources and processes, stronger sanctions against licensees involved in mortgage fraud and development of ongoing education processes incorporating mortgage fraud identification knowledge.

- There have been collaboration endeavors with other stakeholders and enactment of legislative changes and information sharing efforts extended.

- There has been made efforts to increase public awareness.
These will hopefully work towards curbing mortgage frauds to a desirable extent and make the investment in real estate in Alberta less risky.
Jason Uvios writes about on Dealing with Fraud in Real Estate Purchase in Alberta to visit :-

http://www.socialjury.com/632/dealing-with-fraud-in-real-estate-purchase-in-alberta-2/

Brought by Moishe Alexander, CFC CEO