Lawmakers from the Senate Committee responsible for housing and banking issues will meet tomorrow morning to hear from chief economists about the state of the market and the possibility of a housing bubble, Reuters reports.
The article quoted Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo. on why the meeting is important:
“…because we’ve heard a great deal about the possibility of a housing bubble for several years now.”
And Jack Reed, D-R.I., also summarized the need for the lawmakers to hear about these issues:
“The economy has been buoyed for some time by unrealistic expectations about the appreciation of housing prices…. Now that the housing market is cooling, the economy may be headed for a bumpy landing.”
Next week’s meeting with the same committee (both sessions will be open) will focus on the innovations in the lending industry – exotic mortgages (interest-only and negative amortization) will likely be on the docket.
The committee will hear from the following economists: Richard Brown of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, Patrick Lawler of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, Dave Seiders of the National Association of Homebuilders and Tom Stevens of the National Association of Realtors. I think a transcript will be available here after the meeting at 10:00 a.m. EST tomorrow.