Fannie Mae CEO Forecasts Housing Slump through 2008; Fails to Factor in HotPads

Fannie Mae CEO Dan Mudd publicly predicted that average home prices will drop another 4% to 5% in 2008,  with no up tick coming until 2009 "at the earliest."  He does expect a rapid rebound once affordability returns to the housing market.

This dour outlook was probably calculated before the news broke about the new HotPads Buy vs. Rent search engine.

Now that renters can look for available listings and see what great homes are available to buy for the same monthly payment, you can expect a healthy shot of adrenaline to be injected into the housing market.  Until now, no other website has allowed users to browse all of their available housing options using their personal monthly housing budget as a filter.  See it for yourself here.

So credit crunch notwithstanding, renters can now see the deals available with drop in real estate and help speed our recovery faster than many analysts expected.  (A small, tasteful ceremony in the White House Rose Garden will be thanks enough.)