March 11, 2011 -- The Senate Banking Committee convened on Tuesday in a hearing on the current state of the nation’s housing market for middle- and lower-income Americans. The hearing featured industry leaders and experts to assess both the current condition and future challenges facing the market. The committee’s chairman, Tim Johnson (D-SD), explained that the housing market is in a period of extraordinary transition. “In the last few years we have seen that no segment of the population is immune to problems in the housing sector, and it is clear that addressing these problems is an urgent need for Americans of all economic backgrounds,” said Johnson. “Today we see decreasing property values eroding homeowners’ equity, rampant foreclosures devastating neighborhoods, and a falling homeownership rate that threatens to place the option of homeownership out of reach even for qualified borrowers.” Chairman Johnson also cited the Case-Schiller housing index, which states that current home values resemble 2003 price levels.
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