by Calculated Risk on 12/11/2006 06:35:00 PM

The Office of Thrift Supervision hosted a National Housing Forum today. An archived recording will be available soon.

The forum included four panels:

Panel 1: Outlook for the U.S. Housing Market and Potential Impact on Banks and Thrifts

Panel 2: Challenges & Emerging Risks in the Home Mortgage Business

Panel 3: Critical Consumer Protection Issues in Housing Finance Today

Panel 4: Mortgage Fraud

Here are some excerpts from an AP article: Mortgage delinquencies a rising threat

Mortgage delinquency and foreclosure rates are on the rise, and the impact could be greatest on low-income families that took out higher-interest loans for risky borrowers, some experts said Monday.
...
Some experts are concerned that the increase in mortgage foreclosure rates could affect the banking system's financial health.

There have started to be "early signs of credit distress" in financial institutions' holdings of so-called "subprime" mortgages, especially in California, Richard Brown, chief economist for the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., said at the conference.
...
William Longbrake, a senior policy adviser to the Financial Services Roundtable, an industry group, said he is among a minority of experts "who believe the worst is still ahead in the housing market" for home prices to continue to fall.

"There is worse to come. ... The bottom is probably still many months ahead," Longbrake said. He noted that the rise in delinquencies and foreclosures in subprime mortgages particularly affects low-income families.

Mortgage defaults could snowball in the coming months, a situation that bears close watching, he said.