Fitch Teleconference: U.S. Housing, Like Weather, Improving; Today @ 11AM ET

As the weather has improved, so is the outlook for U.S. housing for the rest of 2014 following a lackluster start to the year, according to Fitch Ratings.

Affordability has diminished somewhat due to higher home prices and interest rates and potential buyers are still in the process of psychologically adjusting. However, the latest economic and housing statistics are generally encouraging. Most housing metrics should increase for the full year of 2014 due to faster economic growth in the last three quarters of the year, and some acceleration in job growth. This despite somewhat higher interest rates and more measured home price inflation.

Fitch will be discussing this and other market and competitive trends during its quarterly housing and homebuilder conference call, to take place this morning at 11AM ET.

The focus of the conference call will be to discuss first quarter 2014 (1Q'14) and more recent housing data, as well as Fitch's recently tempered outlook for the U.S. housing sector and expectations for public homebuilders. Managing Director and lead Homebuilding Analyst Robert Curran will be the call leader and provide insights about the outlook for years 2014 and 2015, as well as give a brief sector recap for 1Q'14. Robert Curran and Robert Rulla will answer questions after the formal presentation.

Following are details of the teleconference:

--Date: Wednesday, July 23

--Time: 11:00 a.m. ET

--Conference ID: 76185655

--U.S./Canada: +1-877-819-0869

--International: +1-706-902-0405

--Call Leader: Robert Curran

Replay information:

--Replay Dates: July 23, 2014 - Aug. 23, 2014

--U.S./Canada: +1-855-859-2056

--International: +1-404-537-3406

--Replay ID: 76185655

The conference call follows the release of Fitch's 'U.S. Homebuilding: The Chalk Line - Quarterly Update: Summer 2014', which is available at 'www.fitchratings.com' or by clicking on the link at the end of the press release.

Additional information is available at 'www.fitchratings.com'

Applicable Criteria and Related Research:

U.S. Homebuilding/Construction: The Chalk Line (Summer 2014)

http://www.fitchratings.com/creditdesk/reports/report_frame.cfm?rpt_id=751135

ALL FITCH CREDIT RATINGS ARE SUBJECT TO CERTAIN LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS. PLEASE READ THESE LIMITATIONS AND DISCLAIMERS BY FOLLOWING THIS LINK: HTTP://FITCHRATINGS.COM/UNDERSTANDINGCREDITRATINGS. IN ADDITION, RATING DEFINITIONS AND THE TERMS OF USE OF SUCH RATINGS ARE AVAILABLE ON THE AGENCY'S PUBLIC WEBSITE 'WWW.FITCHRATINGS.COM'. PUBLISHED RATINGS, CRITERIA AND METHODOLOGIES ARE AVAILABLE FROM THIS SITE AT ALL TIMES. FITCH'S CODE OF CONDUCT, CONFIDENTIALITY, CONFLICTS OF INTEREST, AFFILIATE FIREWALL, COMPLIANCE AND OTHER RELEVANT POLICIES AND PROCEDURES ARE ALSO AVAILABLE FROM THE 'CODE OF CONDUCT' SECTION OF THIS SITE. FITCH MAY HAVE PROVIDED ANOTHER PERMISSIBLE SERVICE TO THE RATED ENTITY OR ITS RELATED THIRD PARTIES. DETAILS OF THIS SERVICE FOR RATINGS FOR WHICH THE LEAD ANALYST IS BASED IN AN EU-REGISTERED ENTITY CAN BE FOUND ON THE ENTITY SUMMARY PAGE FOR THIS ISSUER ON THE FITCH WEBSITE.