Daily Real Estate News  |  March 31, 2008  |   OFHEO Director: Markets Shows Improvement
There are "some good signs" that the severe downturn in U.S. housing markets might be approaching an end, says James Lockhart, director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight.

"It's going to take a while, but we're starting to see some bottoms," Lockhart says. "It may take another six months or so, but hopefully we'll start pulling out of it."

But, Lockhart says, the idea of freezing mortgage rates would be a mistake to recovery. Presidential candidate Sen. Hillary Clinton had proposed the idea of a rate freeze.

"You'd really cause market dislocation. … I think we're going to have to let the market work," Lockhart told CNBC television in response. "Interest rates have come down dramatically, and people are going to be able to refinance."

Source: Reuters News (03/28/08)