CR outlined on his show how the Fannie/Freddie HAPR refinances will escalate in March when they change to automated underwriting, and loosen the guidelines by not requiring appraisals or income verifications.  See more details here:

https://www.bubbleinfo.com/2012/01/11/harp-no-income-refis-in-march/

In the State of the Union address last night, President Obama said he will send to Congress a proposal to expand the refinancing to loans carried by private lenders.  An excerpt from the nytimes.com:

The new plan would require Congressional approval, a difficult hurdle for any legislation in the current polarized environment. Still, some Republicans have expressed support for expanding the availability of refinancing, and White House officials insisted that the plan was not an act of theater.

“I’m sending this Congress a plan that gives every responsible homeowner the chance to save about $3,000 a year on their mortgage, by refinancing at historically low interest rates,” Mr. Obama said Tuesday night in his State of the Union address. “No more red tape.  No more runaround from the banks.”

Administration officials said they would release the full proposal in the near future.

The new program will be directed at people whose mortgage debts exceed the value of their homes, according to a senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the details have not yet been finalized. The official estimated that the program could benefit two million to three million homeowners who have loans that are not guaranteed by the government, and that the program’s cost would not exceed $10 billion.

The proposal is the latest in a long series of largely unsuccessful efforts by the administration to bolster the housing market. Like most of its predecessors, the plan is focused not on borrowers facing foreclosure but on those who have been able to keep making the payments on their homes. Reducing housing payments for those borrowers will allow them to spend more money on other things. It also could help to stabilize housing prices by encouraging them to stay in their homes.

They haven’t rolled out the details yet, let along convince Congress that they should add 2-3 million more refinances of private loans to the 1 million projected to be helped by HARP.

But if they did, the last sentence is the key – it will bring fewer homes to market, which may or may not ‘stabilize housing prices’. 

What his program will do is stagnate the market further, because there will be fewer distressed sales selling for retail price or less (which would stimulate sales!).  Instead, the housing inventory will be dominated by equity sellers who insist on listing their homes for retail-plus prices, and holding out. 

This additional program will force buyers to contend with lowly-motivated sellers – the ones who will sell, if they get their price.  Will buyers be willing to pay more?

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