Thread: Flashback: Home Foreclosures Halted Via Administrative Fiat

Obama to outline plan to stem home foreclosures
Obama to outline plan to help struggling homeowners next week; major lenders halt foreclosures

[Ed.: Foreclosed homes bevied on balance sheets, unreported to real property
markets.]

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The biggest players in the mortgage industry are halting home
foreclosures while the Obama administration develops its plan to help struggling
homeowners.

The White House said President Barack Obama on Wednesday will outline his
much-anticipated plan to spend at least $50 billion to prevent foreclosures in a
speech in Arizona, one of the states hardest hit by the foreclosure crisis.

"It's not intended to be measured by one day's market scorekeeping, but instead
to ensure that the 10,000 Americans each day that have their homes foreclosed
on, and the millions more that are barely getting by, are protected," White House
press secretary Robert Gibbs said Friday without providing other details.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner announced a revised effort to stabilize the
financial system on Tuesday. It contained outlines of a foreclosure-relief effort, but
few details.

Though lenders have beefed up their efforts to aid borrowers over the past year, their
action hasn't kept up with the worst housing recession in decades.

More than 2.3 million homeowners faced foreclosure proceedings last year, an 81
percent increase from 2007, and analysts say that number could soar as high as 10 million
in the coming years, depending on the severity of the recession.

Government-controlled mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and
major banks JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Bank of America Corp. said
Friday they are halting foreclosures through March 6.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/JPMorg...-14356039.html