Paul Milstein Professor of Real Estate Christopher Mayer spoke at a Senate hearing on Wednesday, April 25, as part of the panel "Helping Responsible Homeowners Save Money Through Refinancing" convened by the Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development. Panelists addressed the draft bill released the previous day by Sens. Bob Menendez (N.J.) and Barbara Boxer (Calif.), which aims to make it easier for homeowners to refinance their mortgages at the low interest rates currently available."It's time to benefit the homeowners and taxpayers," Mayer said.According to Mayer's estimate, the bill could enable up to 11.6 million refinancings, earning an additional $24 billion for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. He blames the present difficulty of refinancing for more than 300,000 defaults that have already occurred, at a cost of more than $10 billion.For more coverage of the hearing, see U.S. News and World Report and The Hill. For other speakers' testimony, visit the Senate site.A full archive of Professor Mayer's housing/financial crisis research, media coverage, testimony, and more is in the Research section of our website.