Housing Finance Agency Initiative Offers Assistance to Lower-Income Homebuyers
The federal government announced its new housing finance agency initiative, intended to provide additional assistance to lower and middle income home buyers and renters.
Online PR News – 27-November-2009 – Austin, TX ( Onlineprnews ) November 27, 2009 — The federal government announced its new housing finance agency initiative, intended to provide additional assistance to lower and middle income home buyers and renters. The hfa initiative offers two types of help to state and local agencies. First, it provides a temporary source of credit and liquidity for these agencies to shore up their financial situation and assist them in managing outstanding bonds. Secondly, it offers a new bond purchase program to allow state and local hfas to provide financing for new projects and rehabilitation of existing properties.
The first portion of the initiative is the temporary credit and liquidity program. Under the new initiative, the department of the treasury will use the backing provided by freddie mac and fannie mae securities to underwrite existing loans; essentially, the federal government will purchase a financial interest in certain loans held by state and local hfas, freeing up additional capital for new loans and allowing hfas a measure of financial stability that recent market conditions may have endangered.
The second portion, referred to as the new issue bond program, will directly offer temporary financing to hfas. This will allow the state and local agencies to provide new mortgages to lower income borrowers who might not be able to obtain financing through other means. It is expected that this initiative will provide hundreds of thousands of mortgages to first-time homebuyers. Refinance opportunities will also be made available to homeowners caught in the credit crunch.
The hfa initiative is expected to provide more affordable interest rates to lower income home buyers by subsidizing those rates at the state and local level, allowing more families the opportunity to purchase their own home. While these programs are temporary, they are expected to have a significant effect on home sales. Additionally, since the funding for these programs will come from loans and bonds, rather than tax dollars, the programs are expected to pay for themselves throughout their duration.
"The housing finance agency initiative will help more families purchase their first home," joe cline of austin-based affinity properties said. "this will provide much needed stability for the entry-level housing market in austin and throughout texas, and give a boost to the real estate market in general." Economic experts agree with this assessment, noting the need for a stabilizing influence at the lower end of the housing market has never been more urgent. State and local hfas are expected to submit plans for participation in the initiative to the federal government within the next few weeks.
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