Freddie Mac Chief Says Housing Near Bottom

U.S. housing sales are near a bottom said Frank Nothaft, the chief economist of Freddie Mac on Saturday. Speaking on a panel at a conference in Nashville, Tennessee, he also said that a third of sales are now of foreclosed properties.

Nothaft also warned that there was still a great risk of future delinquency. Unemployment is a primary factor for prime borrowers becoming delinquent and house price declines can also add to foreclosure risk, he said.

He noted that Federal Housing Administration lending has increased with FHA loans at the largest share of the U.S. housing market since 1942. He also noted that mortgage rates are at a 50-year low.