Experts from the US, Europe, Canada, and Asia will address efforts to moderate housing cycles using countercyclical lending policies.

Congress should recognize that for the past 37 years the Federal Housing Administration has been the foreclosure leader, betraying its original mission of insuring sustainable loans to first-time and low-income borrowers.

President Obama is set to make a key staffing announcement today that will have major reverberations for the US housing market.

The hedge-fund lobby proposes to “privatize” Fannie and Freddie by converting the US Treasury’s 79.99% preferred stock interest to common stock and eventually float the sale of the common with an initial public offering. The lure is a big budget payoff.

A recent New York Times article entitled “Down Payment Rules Are at Heart of Mortgage Debate” reported that “lenders and consumer advocates are cautioning against down payment requirements.”

Any private financial institution that proposed to calculate its capital in the same manner as the FHA would be stripped of its charter before being escorted out of the room by its prudential regulator.