Economist: Housing Damage Is Mostly Done, But that Doesn't Mean Recovery Is Underway.(Conference notes)

New York -- Although the chief economist at Standard & Poor's doesn't see the housing sector reaching bottom for 12 more months or so, he still gave a surprisingly upbeat forecast while keynoting SourceMedia's Mortgage Outlook 2008 Conference here late last month.

"While recovery is still a year away," David Wyss told the meeting, "most of the damage has already been done."

Most of the conference participants seemed relieved by his forecast, but others thought it too optimistic. "Unreasonably uplifting," said Nina Simon, a senior attorney with the AARP, who believes a "huge amount of pain" is still in store for borrowers who were led blithely into loans they could not afford. But Mr. Wyss, who has been the rating agency's chief economist since 1999, pointed ...