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Builders Denounce Wall Street Journal Editorial

Responding to the latest outbreak of housing-industry bashing in the pages of The Wall Street Journal, NAHB President Kent Conine last week complained to the newspaper’s editors that they are destabilizing the housing market, “the one piece of the economy in which consumers still have confidence and a sector that continues to perform well.”

The most recent round of anti-housing editorializing was precipitated by remarks by William Poole, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, questioning the ability of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae to withstand an unforeseen “mistake” or “shock,” with dire consequences for the financial markets.

A March 12 Wall Street Journal editorial calling Fannie Mae … 

Housing Snapshot

Mortgage rates last week hit their lowest levels in four decades. Watching the nation move to the brink of war with Iraq and unsettled by discouraging developments on the unemployment front, consumers remain skittish. Retail sales for February, when much of the nation was knee-deep in snow, fell much more sharply than expected.

Mortgage Interest Rates
30-Year Fixed-Rate	5.61%
15-Year Fixed-Rate	4.93%
1-Year ARM	3.68%
Housing Starts - Jan. 2003*
Total	1.85 million
Single-Family Starts	1.51 million
Multifamily Starts	340,000
New Home Sales Jan. 2003*	914,000
Existing Home Sales Jan. 2003*	6.09 million
* Seasonally adjusted annual rate

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