Lacker: Time for Fed to Get Out of Mortgage Market

An improving U.S. housing market suggests it is time for the Federal Reserve to stop aiming its stimulus at the real estate sector, Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker said on Wednesday.

"When you look at housing market conditions, I think you could make the case that we should be getting out of mortgage-backed securities," Lacker told reporters after a speech.

Lacker, an inflation hawk who has consistently opposed mortgage-backed securities purchases by the U.S. central bank, said such an exit could be initiated by reinvesting the principal from maturing mortgage bonds into the Treasury market.

(Reporting By Pedro Nicolaci da Costa; Editing by Leslie Adler)