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The following news stories are those which are most important for understanding the house price crash and the impact on house prices going forward...
August 29-30-31
FT: Merrill losses total one-quarter of 36-year profits: Merrill Lynch's losses in the past 18 months amount to about a quarter of the profits it has made in its 36 years as a listed company, according to Financial Times research that highlights the extent of the global banking crisis
FT: Bank of China flees Fannie-Freddie
FT: Subprime mortgage rates might hit 10%
FT: House of horrors
FT: UK house prices fall fuels fears for economy
August 28
FT: Crédit Agricole, France’s third largest bank, is on Thursday expected to announce further big writedowns linked to its exposure to US monoline insurers, leading to a sharp drop in profits when it issues its first-half results
FT: Property sector points to deepening downturn
FT: Inflation fears steer ECB away from rate cuts
Times: Sales at Taylor Wimpey sites slump to half a house a week
Mortgage Solutions: The latest house price report from Nationwide Building Society has revealed house prices fell by 1.9% in August, taking the annual drop to 10.5% - the largest fall since 1990
Mortgage Strategy: Number of sub-prime deals slashed by over 80%
August 27
FT: Euro slumps to six-month low
Times: Northern Rock defaults leave taxpayers facing bill
Telegraph: Sterling tumbles as markets eye interest rate cuts
Property Week: Gloom at Taylor Wimpey despite debt boost
August 26
FT: The crisis gripping Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spread across the financial system on Monday as JPMorgan Chase warned of a possible $600m (£323m) loss from its holdings of preferred shares in the two mortgage financing groups
FT: Overdue mortgage payments ‘on rise’
FT: Denmark’s central bank has taken control of the country’s eighth largest retail lender to avert a systemic financial crisis – the first such move for 15 years
FT: Retailers’ woes hit real estate investors
Marketwatch: U.S. June Case-Shiller home prices down 15.9% in past year
Marketwatch: U.S. July exisitng home sales up 3.1%, inventories rise
Wall Street Journal: Mortgage Fraud Jumped 42% in Year
Mortgage SOlutions: New BTL lending down 18%
Marketwatch: July's sales of new homes paint a mixed picture. Inventories of unsold homes improve; median sales price off 6.3%
Marketwatch: U.S. home prices fell at a record rate in June, putting more pressure on an already-fragile financial system
Reuters: The number of troubled U.S. banks rose 30 percent to 117 in the second quarter, the highest level in five years, and a top regulator warned that conditions will worsen as the housing slump and credit crisis continues to pound profitability
Marketwatch: Home prices off 1.4% in second quarter, OFHEO says
August 23-24-25
FT: Rents recede in buy-to-let
Marketwatch: Sales of existing homes rise but so do inventories
August 22
Times: E.ON and Scottish & Southern raise power prices by 30%
Reuters: US Mint suspends red-hot Eagle gold coins
Wall Street Journal: Home Magazine a Victim of Housing Woes
Reuters: Moody's ratings cut latest blow to Fannie, Freddie
Reuters: Buffett sees economy weak until 2009
August 21
Telegraph: Relief for Bank of England as wage rises slide to five-year low
Times: North Sea pipeline leak lifts gas price as fears rise over supplies
August 20
Reuters: Fannie, Freddie shares dive on bailout fears
August 19
FT: Freddie Mac plans $3bn debt issue
FT: UK homes for rent exceed demand
Times: Families forced to let homes they cannot sell
Marketwatch: Japan freezes rates, lowers economic outlook
Telegraph: Sharp US money supply contraction points to Wall Street crunch ahead
Marketwatch: Single-family housing permits fall to 26-year low, Housing starts plunge 11%
August 16-17-18
FT: More retirees look to equity release
Times: Economic slump puts 300,000 jobs on the line
Times: Sellers are asking £5,403 less for their homes than a month ago, with the typical price of a house down, on average, by 2.3 per cent at £229,816, according to a survey on Rightmove, the property search website
Reuters: U.S. likely to recapitalize Fannie, Freddie: report
August 15
FT: Higher rungs of housing ladder feel mortgage pain.
FT: Eurozone edges closer to recession.
FT: US inflation at highest since 1991.
FT: Bellway’s home sales slump.
FT: British Land hit by falling property prices.
New York Times: US domestic inflation reached a 17-year high of 5.6 per cent.
Times: Home repossessions rise 24% to 15-year high.
Wall Street Journal: NAR: Metro-Area Home Prices Slide.
August 14
FT: UK forecast punishes sterling.
Times: King opposes Treasury's liquidity plans.
Times: 20,000 jobs go in worst month since 90s recession.
FT: Subprime rescue hit by second mortgages.
August 13
Marketwatch: U.K. house prices continued their fall in July.
Telegraph: UK inflation exceeds Bank interest rate for first time since 1981.
Telegraph: Stage two of the gold bull market is just beginning.
August 12
Times: Inflation set to hit 5 per cent as goods prices surge.
Times: Water bills are next in line for a big rise.
FT: JPMorgan struck by $1.5bn writedown.
FT: Report flags UK subprime arrears.
Times: Property market grinds to a halt amid mortgage drought.
Bloomberg: Japan's Wholesale Inflation Rate Reaches 27-Year High.
Mortgage Strategy: Inflation hits 4.4% in July.
Property Week: Savills reports fall in UK property development.
August 9-10-11
Telegraph: This credit crisis is like the plague and nobody is safe yet.
August 8
Times: Barclays rebuked rival bankers and short-selling hedge fund managers yesterday for suggesting that its numbers could not be believed as it reported a 33 per cent slide in first-half pre-tax profits to an “acutely disappointing” £2.8 billion.
Reuters: Citigroup and Merrill Lynch said they would buy back billions of dollars of illiquid auction-rate securities from retail clients, and Citigroup agreed to pay a $100 million fine to settle charges it fraudulently misled investors about the debt's risk.
Mortgage Strategy: Royal Bank of Scotland has reported a pre-tax loss of £691m for the first half of 2008, a fall widely reported as the second-biggest loss in UK banking history.
Mortgage Solutions: Nearly 19,000 repossessions so far this year - CML.
Marketwatch: Fannie Mae swings to $2.3 billion loss in second quarter.
Wall Street Journal: Mortgages issued in the first part of 2007 are going bad at a pace that far outstrips the 2006 vintage, suggesting that the blow to the financial system from U.S. housing woes will be deeper than many people earlier estimated.
Times: House repossessions soar by 48% since January.
August 7
Marketwatch: American International Group reported a $5.36 billion second-quarter net loss late Wednesday as the insurance giant was hit again by write-downs and impairments on mortgage-related exposures.
Telegraph: UK consumers have been hit with a 9.5% jump in food prices in the year to July, as retailers stepped up their bid to pass on their own rising costs to customers.
Mortgage Strategy: MPC holds base rate at 5%.
Marketwatch: ECB leaves key rate unchanged.
Marketwatch: U.S. weekly initial jobless claims rise 7,000 to 455,000.
Marketwatch: US pending home sales index rises 5.3% in June.
Mortgage Strategy: Average UK house prices fall 1.7% in July.
Reuters: AIG sees up to $8.5 billion in cash losses from CDS.
August 6
Reuters: Freddie Mac, one of the major players in the U.S. mortgage market, on Wednesday posted its fourth straight quarterly loss as it braced for a prolonged housing market slump by setting aside twice as much money for bad loans and cutting its dividend by at least 80%.
FT: Fears that taxpayers will have to pay more for the Northern Rock bailout grew on Tuesday after critics attacked the government for taking on £3.4bn in extra risk because the troubled bank’s finances were far worse than previously thought.
FT: Brown considers stamp duty freeze.
FT: Inflation fears persist as Fed holds rates.
Times: Repossessions rise 40% as mortgage arrears worsen.
New York Times: Freddie Mac Loses $821 Million and Cuts Dividend.
August 5
FT: Eurozone factory prices hit record high.
August 2-3-4
New York Times: Jobless Rate Climbs to 5.7% as 51,000 Jobs Are Lost in July.
Times: US junk-bond defaults may quadruple.
Times: Manufacturers' gloom stretches across UK.
New York Times: Housing Lenders Fear Bigger Wave of Loan Defaults.
Marketwatch: The US personal consumption expenditure price index rose 0.8% in June compared with May and is up 4.1% in the past year, the largest year-over-year inflation in 17 years.
Mortgage Strategy: HSBC's pre-tax profit falls £1.98bn.
August 1
FT: Eurozone inflation surges to 4.1%.
Marketwatch: Housing slump causes more people to stay put.
Bloomberg: IndyMac Bancorp Files for Liquidation After Seizure.
New York Times: For some industry observers, Merrill Lynch’s deal to unload a portfolio of toxic mortgage investments appears similar to invisible ink: the bad investments seem to have disappeared, but in fact they’re still hanging around, waiting to be revealed.
