MCLEAN, Va., Feb. 8 (UPI) -- U.S. housing activity has slowed from recent years but the slowdown will not lead to a recession, mortgage finance company Freddie Mac said Thursday.
"Any risks the housing contraction could spark an economy-wide recession are fading fast," the company's chief economist wrote in Freddie Mac's monthly forecast.
New-home inventories are higher than official statistics indicate due to sales-contract cancellations. Inventory buildup is also understated due to homeowner vacancies of condos, said Freddie Mac, formally known as the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp.
"Fortunately," the economist said, the weak housing market, is "taking place in an otherwise robust economy."
Freddie Mac is a mortgage finance company chartered by Congress to buy mortgages from lenders and resell them to investors or hold in its own portfolio.
