Any changes to the mortgage interest deduction now or in the future could threaten recent progress toward stabilizing the housing market, critically erode home prices and values, destroy middle-class wealth accumulation and hurt economic growth.
Pending home sales increased in June following a wide swing down in April and then up in May, according to the National Association of Realtors®. Activity increased in the West and South but declined in the Midwest and Northeast; all regions show strong double-digit gains from a year ago.
If regulators get their way, many qualified home buyers in Memphis, Tenn., may be shut out of the market very soon. That’s one of the reasons the National Association of Realtors® will be in town this weekend as part of its Home Ownership Matters Bus Tour.
Existing-home sales eased in June as contract cancellations spiked unexpectedly, although prices were up slightly. Sales gains in the Midwest and South were offset by declines in the Northeast and West. Single-family home sales were stable while the condo sector weakened.
As NAR’s Home Ownership Matters bus crosses Alabama this week, Realtors® are providing assistance to victims of the April 27 tornadoes with funds raised from Realtor® donations across the country.
In a letter to Shaun Donovan, secretary of Housing and Urban Development; Timothy Geithner, secretary of the Treasury; and Gene Sperling, director of the National Economic Council, NAR offered its recommendations for helping stabilize and revitalize the housing industry and economy.
As policymakers consider changes to government programs and incentives that could dramatically change the nature of home ownership in this country, the National Association of Realtors® is once again bringing these issues to people across the country with the second phase of the Home Ownership Matters Bus Tour.
The Home Ownership Matters Bus Tour will be at Atlantic Station on July 16 from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Members of the public can meet with national Realtor® leaders and local officials to discuss their concerns and learn more about the issues that may affect their ability to buy, sell or own a home in the future.
Testifying before the House Financial Service Committee’s Subcommittee on Insurance, Housing and Community Opportunity, NAR spokesperson Steve Brown identified several proposed regulations and existing rules that have exacerbated problems within the fragile real estate market and urged Congress and the administration to consider modifying the rules to help consumers purchase homes and the economy recover.
The long-term viability of America’s housing finance market requires comprehensive reform of the secondary mortgage market. Toward that end, the National Association of Realtors® supports H.R. 2413, the “Secondary Market Facility for Residential Mortgage Act of 2011.”
HOME
