No Housing Revival Seen in '08

Seattle Times (09/28/07); Cook, Peter; Tyson, JamesFannie Mae CEO Daniel Mudd expects home prices to decline 2 percent to 4 percent in 2007 and by even more in 2008. In an interview in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, Mudd added that credit losses will continue to rise at Fannie Mae because of the housing downturn and record foreclosure rates. He also said Fannie Mae is likely to meet all the requirements needed to lift constraints on growth and reserve capital by filing its results in February. "Let's loosen this up a little bit and give us a chance to respond in a market where all the other investors have gone away," said Mudd, who wants the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight to raise the limit on Fannie Mae's mortgage assets.