| May 16, 2011 1:16PM Two lawmakers have introduced bipartisan legislation that would eliminate Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae while still keeping a government presence in the housing finance marketplace. HR 1859 , "The Housing Finance Reform Act of 2011", is sponsored by Congressmen Gary Peters (D-MI) and John Campbell (R-CA). According to the official release , the legislation would: Ensure the availability of reasonably priced conventional mortgages. Provide incentives for private sector capital to support the secondary... May 16, 2011 2:08PM The National Association of Homebuilders (NAHB) reported on Monday that its Housing Market Index (HMI) came in at 16 for the sixth time in seven months. The HMI is a measure of builder confidence gleaned from homebuilders' responses to a monthly survey that has been conducted by NAHB for over 20 years. "Builder confidence has hardly budged over the past six months as persistent concerns regarding competition from distressed property sales, lack of production credit, inaccurate appraisals, and proposals...
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