Greek Banks Set for First Payouts Since 2008 on ECB Approval
The European Central Bank will allow Greek banks to make their first shareholder payouts in over a decade as the country emerges from a painful post-crisis restructuring.
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The European Central Bank will allow Greek banks to make their first shareholder payouts in over a decade as the country emerges from a painful post-crisis restructuring.
China’s protracted property downturn is eroding the balance sheets of the nation’s largest state banks as their bad loans creep up.
Embattled German landlord Adler Group SA has asked its bondholders for permission to sell an unfinished apartment development at a 47% discount to its 2022 valuation, as the company races to repay its vast debt load.
Two years ago, Dubai became a hot favorite with Russians looking to park money or build new lives after President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. That allure is now dimming as the cost of living in the glitzy emirate surges and its banks get stricter in enforcing US sanctions.
The Bank of Korea warned Thursday that a further slump in the real estate sector would undermine broader economic activity, as it pointed to worsening delinquencies among developers in the latest signal of continuing woes in the credit market.
Feb 8, 2017
Reuters
,Canadian housing starts unexpectedly rose in January as Ontario saw a strong increase on ground breaking of new homes, suggesting home construction got off to a strong start in 2017.
The seasonally adjusted annualized rate of housing starts rose to 207,408 units from a downwardly revised 206,305 in December, the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) said on Wednesday. Economists had expected starts to decline to 200,000.
The increase was driven by a 4.2 per cent gain in the multiples segment, which includes condominiums, while new construction on single-detached homes declined 4.6 percent.
Ground breaking in Ontario led the way higher with an increase of 25.1 per cent to 96,883 units, possibly helped by the weather.
"Milder than usual winter weather in Ontario may have brought out more hammers and shovels than normal – and at the potential expense of housing starts later," said Derek Holt, an economist at Scotiabank.
Starts also increased in the Atlantic provinces, although they declined in Quebec and the Prairies.
Ground breaking continued to fall in British Columbia and were down 32.6 per cent at 26,308. Housing activity had already begun to slow in the province last year before the provincial government implemented a tax on foreign home buyers in Vancouver in August.
Canada's housing market has been robust in the years since the global financial crisis, supported by low interest rates that have seen consumers take on more debt.
But last year's changes by the federal government to tighten mortgage lending rules are expected to mitigate some of the run-up in housing seen recently, particularly in the hot markets of Toronto and Vancouver.
Although housing is expected to slow later in the year, recent building permit data suggest housing starts could still see a few more strong readings, said Nick Exarhos, economist at CIBC Capital Markets.
Housing is likely to be a modest drag on overall economic growth this year as there is little room for the sector to accelerate from 2016's strong activity, Exarhos said.