Fueling Housing Decline, Lenders Retreat From Tough Markets
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Countrywide, Housing Decline, Tough Markets, wachovia March 1st, 2008In the nation’s worst-hit real estate markets, home sellers are suffering a new blow: They’re being blacklisted by lenders.
As property values decline and credit markets contract, home lenders nationwide are growing ever more unwilling to finance home purchases in sharply declining housing markets, driving prices down further. In some cases, lenders have ruled out entire geographical regions and property types altogether, most notably high-rise condominiums in South Florida and Las Vegas.
Lenders including BankUnited, a unit of BankUnited Financial Corp. (BKUNA), and Vertice, a wholesale lending unit of Wachovia Corp. (WB), have elected not to lend to some areas or properties because of declining prices. Countrywide Financial Corp. (CFC), the nation’s largest mortgage lender, considered a similar move this week before reversing course, and other lenders have tightened underwriting guidelines for slumping markets so as to make financing nearly unattainable.
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Tags: Countrywide, Housing Decline, Tough Markets, wachovia
