Over the objections of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Department of Housing and Urban Development moved this week to declassify a significant amount of the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act-like data reported on an annual basis by the two government-sponsored enterprises. The public disclosure of certain loan-level mortgage data from Fannie and Freddie, which is slated to take place in 2005, will – among other things – allow HUD and private researchers to better track