NBN Online for the week of March 24, 2008

Move to Ease Mortgage Credit Crunch Not Bold Enough

With the nation’s housing industry caught in the grips of a difficult mortgage credit crunch as the peak home building season fast approaches, regulators in Washington, D.C. last week took an encouraging step to put Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to work to stabilize housing and the financial markets. But considering the severity of the problem and its dire implications for the U.S. economy, home builders said that it is not enough.

The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) announced on March 19 that it was reducing the capital surcharge levied on the two housing government sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to increase immediate liquidity to the mortgage-backed securities market by up to $200 billion.

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Salt Lake Builders Make ‘Buy-Now’ Headlines in Local Newspaper

Faced with newspaper headlines reading “New-home sales reach 12-year low” and “U.S. home foreclosures skyrocket,” local home builder associations often witness first-hand the damage that negative reporting can inflict upon the local housing market and the businesses of their members.

Sensational news media coverage has been especially troubling to HBAs in markets that have averted the harsh downturn being experienced in some of the hardest-hit housing markets in the country. Hammered with negative national coverage that didn’t apply to their market, the Salt Lake Home Builders Association (SLHBA) decided to take action and set the record straight to show local consumers why now is a great time to buy.