36
Ask the
Economist
Mark Fleming
Chief Economist,
First American Financial
Corporation
M
ark Fleming serves as the chief
economist for First American
Financial Corporation. In his
role, he leads an economics
team responsible for analysis, commentary
and forecasting trends in the real estate
and mortgage markets. Fleming's research
interests primarily include real estate and urban
economics, applied econometrics and mortgage
risk.
We have been hearing a lot about the
"recovery" of housing. Do you think
housing has "recovered" from the crisis?
"Recovery" implies backward looking. Rather
than trying to keep looking back and asking,
"Are we recovered or not?" I think the more
interesting challenge today is to focus on
looking forward and saying, "Who are we
going to be financing? Who are the first-
time homebuyers of the future? What are the
kinds of mortgage products that we need to
create? What are the impediments to those
communities for becoming homeowners in the
future?" and having that much more forward-
looking perspective. If we aren't cognizant
in recognizing the fact that the future will
look different than the past has, there may
be a lot fewer mortgage loans to do. Maybe
