As the housing market struggles to keep pace with economic recovery elsewhere, homeowners would love to have a crystal ball.  Absent that, however, they have AEI resident fellow Edward Pinto, one of seven panelists to be awarded with Zillow and Pulsenomics' Crystal Ball Award.

In 2011, the Government Mortgage Complex accounted for 88 percent of all first-mortgage originations in the United States, with the government also controlling an estimated 90 percent of the student loan market. The government’s growing dominance in the home mortgage and student loan categories is cause for concern, posing a threat to private investors, borrowers, and taxpayers.

As policymakers continue their efforts to reduce the government’s role in the currently nationalized housing market, the broadly available and deep subsidies provided to the five divisions of the Government Mortgage Complex continue to distort the marketplace and thwart these efforts.

This event will address the problems and improvements needed for student loans, beginning with a keynote presentation by former secretary of education Bill Bennett.

Though its capital position improved slightly over last month, the FHA is still firmly in the red, with a current net worth of –$13.45 billion. Particularly alarming is the growth of the Ginnie/USDA division, which has a higher default rate than the FHA.

Sir, Lawrence Summers is certainly correct in asserting that the right focus of the European countries must be on restoring economic growth if they are to restore fiscal sustainability (“Growth not austerity is the best...

In case you missed it: in a recent piece, mortgage finance and housing expert Edward Pinto writes that the 30-years mortgage could well be the cause of a new housing bubble.

Housing markets will continue to go sideways, on average, during 2012, then they will begin their cyclical recovery in 2013.