Apparently feeling that voluntary measures aren’t enough to get the job done, the over-whelming majority of respondents to a new Housing Predictor poll say White House efforts to refinance mortgages for millions of under water homeowners won’t work to help the housing market recover.
Eighty-two percent of all those who took the online poll said that the efforts would not help the troubled housing market. A series of other steps have been taken by the Obama administration in efforts to push the housing market into a recovery. But the programs have been heavily criticized for their lack of strength, and slow implementation to repair weakened markets as the number of home foreclosures rise.
More than 1 out of 4 homeowners nationally owe more on their mortgages than what their home is currently worth, and at the present pace the number is projected to rise to as many as 1 in 3 by the end of 2011.
Under the program, for the first time bankers would be paid directly by the government for cutting the amount of principal owed on mortgages. But the plan is voluntary and bankers are not required to take part.
An earlier White House program to get bankers to modify home mortgages has only amounted to 168,000 completed modifications under the Troubled Assets and Relief Program. But the majority of another 1.1-million temporary modifications are expected to become permanent.
The program is more than a year old and was slow to get a foot hold, bogged down by slow banking procedures, government red tape and a lack of capacity to handle the housing crisis. Only 18% said the refinance program for upside down mortgage holders would work to help markets.
Will the new White House plan to help under water homeowners refinance their homes help to stabilize the housing market?
Yes – 18% No – 82%
To see poll previous results from 2010 click here.