Mortgages: Finance giant GE Money tries to off load $5bn mortgage portfolio

GE Money pimps its Australian mortgage loan book of $5 billion, as the US General Electric parent seeks to get back to its knitting [manufacturing].

This suggests to me that GE know what's coming down the pike for the future of the mortgage business worldwide, and their crystal gazers are seeing trouble ahead.

But Australia's big banks will be taking that into their stride

Commonwealth Bank [CBA] and National Australia Bank [NAB] are among those believed to have issued an indicative bid for the lending book. Others looking at the bid include Australian non-bank lenders.

GE Money ceased taking loan applications for mortgages in Australia two years ago, after mortgage credit became hard to set and the mortgage meltdown in the US market spooked them.

In 2008, CBA bought a 30 percent share of Aussie Home Loans who then grabbed the Wizard Home Loans portfolio for a fraction of the $400 million paid for the business by the US company four years earlier.

As part of that deal, CBA emerged with a $2 billion mortgage portfolio with loans originated under the Wizard brand.

At its peak, GE Money was the biggest non-bank lender in Australia, & looked the contender to take on Australia's big four banks.

But when the Global Financial Crisis hit, GE Money was hit with big losses around the world, and the need to refinance its lending arm threatened GE's existence.

GE has since recovered, and following the financial crisis has changed strategy to focus more on making industrial products and less on financing. Hence the mortgage sale.

The sales covers only a fraction of GE Money in Australia

It is believed the sale is limited to GE Money's mortgage book, GE Capital's total Australian lending book is  $28 billion, with with most of that in its more profitable motor vehicle and personal lending and business financing operations.

Mortgage home loans interest rates head north

Home mortgage rates could soon be 8%pa if the RBA believes the economy is stable and banks don't get sorted by legislation and greater competition.
With Australia missing the Global Financial Crisis boat and the economy powering ahead first home buyers and home owners could soon face mortgage home loan rates around the 8%.
This scenario will depend on a number of factors including:

• Mortgage home loan competition. Unless we see a vigorous embracing of securitised mortgage  lenders by both mortgage brokers and home buyers and homeowners, the banks with creep up their margins on the official cash rate. Major banks margins are nearly 3%, and that is over 1% on what is was three years ago at the height of a competitive non bank lending industry. 
• Legislation. Senator Bob Brown, leader of the Greens Party has introduced a bill that looks to cut mortgage interest rates and fees and charges on all lending other credit products to fair levels. Will the banks will be lobbying hard to stop this as this will white ant their mortgage home loan record profits.
• The RBA decisions over the next twelve months. The Reserve bank of Australia is the body that will steer Australia into a low inflation, low unemployment economic future. Balancing home loan affordability with consumer spending and business demand is a hard task, given that one of Australia's biggest challenges is the housing shortage that is driving home prices, and the size of the average home loan ever higher. 
• Government housing policy. Basically we don't have the policies to drive the home building industry to address our current housing shortage. The fundamental problem is that developed land is too expensive and in too short supply and takes too long to be approved by State and Local Governments. A Government policy at State or Federal levels to acquire and develop land for residential land has to be a priority. This will take the heat out of established home prices and make homes more affordable.
• Marketing tactics by developers. Even when land was plentiful, land developers used unfair tactics in my view with the aim to push prices higher by "creating artificial scarcity". This practice needs to be stopped, and more competition in the land development brought about.

By addressing these issues, housing will be less expensive, even if mortgage home loan interest rates go higher.

And by addressing the root cause of house prices going higher, by building more housing stock sooner, one of the main reasons for RBA interest rate rises, home price increases, will be removed, according to Rick Adlam, Mr Mortgage home loans.