Outspoken congressman Barney Frank has no shortage of critics, and they're sure to be out in force today. This morning, The Wall Street Journal reported that the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, along with his colleague Anthony Weiner, is actually recommending that Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE) relax their lending standards on condominiums.

The controversial request follows a decision by both Fannie and Freddie to tighten mortgage-lending standards for condos. In March, Fannie said it would no longer guarantee mortgages on condos in buildings where fewer than 70% of units have been rented, up from its previous benchmark of 51%. Freddie is due to implement similar measures in July. In a letter to the CEOs of both mortgage lenders, Reps. Frank and Weiner expressed their concerns that the higher standard "may be too onerous," and asked the lenders to "make appropriate adjustments" to their approach.

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Barney Frank encourages Fannie, Freddie to relax lending standards originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:40:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Bloomberg is reporting that condominium developers have continued building very quickly, despite the Florida real estate market's sell-off in the past year. This ignorance to the needs of the market forced the market into recession in October, becausethe Floridian economy has become very dependent on the strong housing market from 2002-2005. One expert in the article even went as far as to say that Florida is the "epicenter for all the problems that exist in the housing industry."

Bizarrely, 20,000 new condo units are being developed despite the recent sell-off in the market and lack of demand. I guess the developers missed Economics 101 -- when there is no demand, there's no reason to flood the market with supply. These ridiculous actions are only exaggerating the area's already-significant supply glut.

These events could force any companies with exposure to the Florida condo market to further write-down its book value. The ramifications of this entire debacle are becoming more and more clear, and once investors realize that a recession is developing in Florida, they will quickly become very leery to invest in companies based in Florida.

Condo developers destroying Florida market originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 22 Jul 2007 12:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.