Jumbo mortgage market is beginning to thaw - latimes.com

In a very well-timed article (see my immediate past blog post), the LA Times reports that the the Jumbo mortgage market is beginning to thaw.  There isn't much movement yet, and in fact the article quotes what all would-be jumbo mortgage borrowers already know, namely that "For now, the jumbo market remains limited to the volume of loans that banks are willing and able to keep on their books. But there is hope for a return to private outside funding." 

That private funding is exactly what's needed,
 as the secondary market for jumbo loans completely dried up two years ago, meaning that anyone who has made a jumbo loan since then has had to keep it on their own books.  This in turn severely limits the availability of jumbo mortgage credit, as banks' balance sheets are already loaded with mortgages, many of them in troubled status.

Still, there is potentially a light at the end of the tunnel for jumbo loans with high down payments, meaning safe, low LTV loans. That would be an enormous boon to the real estate market, which is understandably running out of "all-cash" buyers for $1 million+ homes! - David
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