While Illinois foreclosures were down in June as compared to May, they were still 42 percent higher than at the same point last year. Realty Trac Inc. found that one out of every 484 households in the Chicagoland area was foreclosed upon during June. Not surprisingly, home sales are also way down in the state, as compared to the previous year. And as the AP reported last weekend, "foreclosures will keep rising next year no matter who is elected president in November."
Meanwhile, in Washington, a bill providing assistance to cash-strapped homeowners has been moving along at a "glacial pace," thanks to GOP lawmakers who oppose it. Here are the details:
The centerpiece of the housing package is a plan to rescue as many as 400,000 families by helping them trade exotic loans with rapidly rising monthly payments for more affordable mortgages backed by the federal government. Under the proposal, the Federal Housing Administration would be authorized to insure up to $300 billion in new loans for families whose lenders agree to write down their debt to no more than 87 percent of their homes' current, reduced value. [...]
The package also contains a long-sought overhaul of the FHA and housing-related tax breaks worth $14.5 billion, including a credit of up to $8,000 for first-time home buyers. And it would offer local communities $3.9 billion in emergency funds to purchase foreclosed properties in hopes of halting or preventing the spread of blight.
The bill cleared a procedural hurdle in the Senate yesterday and is headed back to the House, where it's expected to undergo further changes (those emergency funds will likely be nixed) before facing another vote in both chambers. Democratic leaders hope to get it to the president's desk by the end of the month.
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