Obama calls housing the biggest drag on the economy

Today, President Obama visited the Facebook headquarters for a Town Hall meeting and took questions from Facebook users on various topics, including housing which he said is currently sluggish and that collapsing home prices is probably the biggest drag on the current economy.

Obama noted that the era of buying homes with low down payments is over and although there are some pockets of positive activity in housing, and advised that for some people it may be smarter to rent.

What’s next?

Now that Obama has declared housing is the biggest speed bump to the economy, will more attention be paid to the sector other than killing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and government infighting and continued implementation of failed projects like HAMP? Obama has recently announced he will be running for reelection, will housing be put on the forefront of this and other campaigns?

When the full transcript and video are available they will be posted here.