photo credit: swanksalot
American developers are taking their case for real estate market aid to the White House with a call for $250 billion in stimulus measures.
The Fix Housing First package, backed by a coalition of home builders and construction-related firms, lays down a plan to get US consumers buying property again.
The group says an earlier tax credit handed to first-time buyers has been a failure and should be expanded.
Other grants and subsidies could revitalise the homes market and in turn help the slowing American economy, the coalition claims.
Fix Housing First said:
“Falling home values are at the core of the current economic crisis, driving consumption down and depleting the balance sheets of our financial institutions.
“Foreclosure prevention, coupled with short-term targeted incentives, will encourage Americans to buy homes again.”
The $7,500 credit introduced earlier in 2008 for first-time buyers only should be extended to all buyers, the group says.
It is also calling on the government to create a temporary 30-year fixed rate mortgage starting at 2.99 per cent interest and expanding to 3.99 per cent in 2009, among other measures.
This would encourage buyers to snap up property now and would halt a fall in home values, Fix Housing First says.
Critics of the plan, which has appeared in newspaper adverts, say it will have to be paid for by taxpayers and will cost more than the group says.
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