Bernanke's Comments
At the same time Fed Chairman Bernanke said that weakness in housing is
holding back the recovery. At the annual homebuilders conference held in
Orlando, Florida, Bernanke said that even with record low interest rates
the housing market is not recovering "fast enough" and that this is a big
reason why the general recovery is not coming back stronger. He sited
stringent lending practices as the main reason housing is not recovering.
Meanwhile Edward DeMarco, who heads the Federal Housing Finance Agency says that unless and until Congress changes the mandate for his agency to preserve and protect Fannie and Freddie, FHFA will not lessen the restrictions on the two giants underwriting practices.