Where will housing and real estate issues rank on Washington's priority list for the upcoming election year's legislative calendar?

If President Obama's state of the union address was any guide - don't look for much in the way of new or dramatic initiatives from his administration. Most of those efforts apparently happened last year.

The president barely mentioned housing in his 71 minute speech - though he did acknowledge that “home values have declined” and noted that “we cut taxes for first time home buyers.”

The tax credit program, however, is set for expiration mid year. Some real estate group leaders privately are suggesting the credit program might need to be extended again to prevent a sharp dropoff in sales.

But there's currently little support for that in Congress … and the president gave no hint that he would even consider such a move.

Obama did pledge to “step up” efforts to assist financially distressed homeowners through “refinancings” that can move them “into more affordable mortgages.”

The two major federal programs aimed at helping out troubled borrowers, both begun last year, have been criticized for the relatively modest numbers of consumers they've assisted and the high re-default rate among some borrowers whose loans were refinanced or modified.

The president's reference to a “step up” in those efforts could be a hint that the government might be moving toward encouraging loan modifications that provide principal reductions to borrowers who are deeply underwater -- something that's been resisted by lenders and mortgage investors.

Consumer groups say only outright debt reductions can stem the tide of foreclosures - projected at close to 3 million additional filings this year - and strategic walkaways from devalued properties.

The president did appear to support continuation of tax credits and rebates for energy conservation in houses - some of which are set to expire at the end of the year.

What the president never mentioned, however, is one of the hottest home mortgage issues facing Congress this year: What to do with ailing financing giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

House Financial Services committee chairman Barney Frank sent shockwaves through Washington's housing and mortgage groups last week when he announced that his committee expects to introduce legislation that would effectively kill the two home mortgage investors in their current form.

Frank offered no blueprint on what might replace Fannie and Freddie - which together account for well over half of all mortgage financings in the U.S. and play key roles in the Obama administration's current refinancing and loan modification efforts.

The president, for his part, was silent on the matter.

Published: February 1, 2010

Use of this article without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

Kenneth R. Harney writes an award-winning, nationally-syndicated column on housing and real estate from Washington, D.C. He is also managing director of the National Real Estate Development Center, a professional education company. He is a past member of the Federal Reserve Board's Consumer Advisory Council, a committee that by federal statute reviews all Fed actions on home mortgage, consumer credit and banking industry regulation. He served as a member of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development's Working Group on Computerized Loan Origination (CLO) systems, and is a member of the Editorial Board of the Fannie Mae Foundation's journal, Housing Policy Debate. He is the author of two books on mortgage finance and real estate.