By Jonathan Spicer
ISELIN, New Jersey (Reuters) – Three top Federal Reserve officials aggressively pushed on Friday for more stimulus for the U.S. housing market, saying that other government policymakers as well as the central bank should be looking at ways to help the sector in order to speed the economic recovery.
In separate speeches, the Fed officials — William Dudley, the president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank; Fed Governor Elizabeth Duke; and Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Fed — warned that the fragile housing sector threatens to derail a U.S. recovery.
Their remarks came even as a robust government jobs report provided fresh evidence that the recovery is gaining.
The push for action came two days after the Fed entered the thorny debate over how to use the two main government-run mortgage finance firms, Fannie Mae (OTC BB:FNMA.OB – News) and Freddie Mac (OTC BB:FMCC.OB – News), to turn around the housing market.
The housing sector was at the heart of the financial crisis and recession and has continued to hamper the recovery.
A 33 percent decline in U.S. housing prices since 2006 has resulted in an estimated $7 trillion loss of household wealth, and about 12 million U.S. homeowners are currently
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