(Sacramento, December 3, 2007) – Today, Pete Ogilvie, President of the California Association of Mortgage Brokers (CAMB), released the following statement regarding the United States Senate's inaction regarding the mortgage reform bills sent to them by the House of Representatives, both of which would raise government-backed loan limits for California home buyers and homeowners:

"The California Association of Mortgage Brokers is deeply disappointed by the Senate's refusal to provide Californians with the same options for homeownership available to residents of other states across the Nation. Once again, our legislators in Washington, D.C., are ignoring California's housing crisis, refusing to recognize California as a high cost state and thereby depriving residents of the Golden State of the same opportunity to achieve the American Dream of Homeownership enjoyed by the populations of the other 49 states.

According to a recent article in The Economist, California is leading the economic struggles of this country primarily due to the state's housing affordability and accessibility crisis. If Congress wants to save homeownership as they claim, their actions need to speak louder than their words. They should designate California, the world's eighth-largest economy, as a high cost housing market, allowing Californians the same accessibility to homeownership as residents in other high cost states, like Hawaii and Alaska. When Alaska's median home price ($271,000) is compared to California's median home price ($530,830), it becomes evident that California's needs are being ignored and families across the state are being denied equal access to homeownership.

Raising the conforming loan limit for California would increase much-needed liquidity in today's struggling housing market, giving homeowners facing foreclosure viable financing alternatives to losing their homes. According to a CAMB study done in 2005, raising the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac conforming loan limits in California would enable more than 150,000 prospective homebuyers to be able to afford the median priced home in California.

CAMB is calling upon the Senate to immediately pass the Government Sponsored Enterprise (GSE) Reform which grants high cost area designation to California communities, thereby protecting California's consumers and its economy and setting a strong foundation upon which the Golden State's future economy will be built."

Members of the media who would be interested in speaking with CAMB President Pete Ogilvie regarding California's need for high cost state designation should call Clay Merrill at 916-448-5802.