At the annual conference for state housing finance agencies last week, HUD Secretary Donovan thanked housing finance agencies for “helping to turn around the housing market” and for “being there for first time home buyers” throughout the worst of the economic downturn.
Donovan also highlighted the need for national housing finance reform that includes creating a billion dollar fund for affordable rental housing. He also described the need for increases in the Low-Income Housing Tax Credit and the importance of programs that preserve affordable rental housing.
Another speaker at the conference, economist Mark Fleming of CoreLogic, described likely happenings expected in the mortgage market in the short run. “Tapering” (off of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy suppressing interest rates) will likely begin in 2014. Fleming projected a growing increase in demand for home equity financing, since many home owners who refinanced mortgages when interest rates were at their lowest will prefer to hold on to these loans and renovate existing homes rather than move up to larger homes.
The conference was run by the National Council of State Housing Agencies whose weekly newsletter featured a family who used a VHFA mortgage to finance the purchase of their first Vermont home.
Photo courtesy of National Council of State Housing Agencies.