Housing industry groups comment on President-Elect Obama's historic victoryEric C. PeckNAHB, Barak Obama, HOPE, Obama Administration, new Congress
Housing industry trade groups have begun to show their support
regarding President-Elect Barack Obama's historic presidential
victory as the 44th president of the United States.
"The nation's homebuilders look forward to working in a
bi-partisan manner with the incoming Obama Administration and new
Congress to help solve our nation's economic crisis and get housing
and the economy back on track," said National Associaiton of Home
Builders (NAHB) President and CEO Jerry Howard.
In an effort to address falling home prices and rising
foreclosures, which are the root causes of the current economic
downturn, NAHB and other industry advocates are urging Congress to
move forward in a lame-duck session to enact a second economic
stimulus package that includes key housing recovery provisions.
To provide short-term targeted incentives that will help put a
floor on home prices and encourage Americans to buy homes again,
NAHB is urging Congress to provide:
" A 10 percent home buyer tax credit up to a maximum of $22,000,
depending on the FHA loan limit in a given market. Available to all
buyers who purchase a home over the next year, the tax credit would
not have to be repaid by the buyer and would replace the temporary
$7,500 first-time home buyer tax credit due to expire on July 1,
2009.
" An interest-rate buy down on conforming loans for all families
purchasing a home through the end of 2009. The plan would reduce
the interest rate to 2.99 percent on 30-year mortgages for homes
purchased through June 30, 2009; the interest rate would increase
to 3.99 percent on contracts closed between July 1, 2009 and Dec.
31, 2009.
"Getting consumers off the sidelines will reduce the inventory
of unsold homes, stop the erosion of home values in hard-hit
markets and result in more new and existing home sales in the
months ahead, restoring housing as an essential driver of growth in
the nation's economy," said Howard.
The HOPE NOW Alliance also congratulated President-Elect Obama
and Vice President-Elect Joe Biden on their historic election. HOPE
NOW is an industry-created, non-profit alliance of mortgage
servicers, investors, counselors and other mortgage market
participants that has helped to prevent 2.5 million-plus
foreclosures nationwide. The group also implements efforts across
the country to help as many homeowners as possible prevent
foreclosure and stay in their homes.
"Hope Now has helped to prevent over 2.5 million foreclosures in
the past year, but there is still much work to be done. As
President-Elect Obama mentioned in his acceptance speech, we need
to ensure that 'Main Street' does not suffer," said Faith Schwartz,
executive director of the HOPE NOW Alliance. "As the non-profit
industry initiative for foreclosure prevention, Hope Now is looking
forward to working with the Obama Administration on our joint goal
of preventing as many foreclosures as possible and getting the
economy back on track."
