This is what Maryland folks had to say about it:

Local industry players hailed the announcement as good news. Joseph Child, director of Greenbelt-based Step One Mortgage, who does most of his business in the Baltimore metro area, said he ran up against the declining-market requirements frequently and found it difficult to tell why the company was flagging certain neighborhoods. Tim Higgins, home loan consultant with Patuxent Funding in Ellicott City, said almost every place in the state appeared to be flagged. ...

Higgins thinks Fannie Mae's move will ripple through the lending industry as a whole, encouraging lenders who sell to the mortgage financier to drop their own declining-market down payment requirements. But that could take a while, he added.

One sticking point: New underwriting rules Fannie Mae is rolling out might disqualify more borrowers from loans even as it lets those who do qualify put less money down, Child said. The company said in a statement yesterday that the new system "will limit risk layering and assess each loan more precisely."