Housing Market Overview
Foreclosure Trends and the Federal Response
The foreclosure rate in the United States has been rising rapidly since around the middle of 2006. The large increase in home foreclosures since that time has negatively impacted individual households, local communities, and the economy as a whole. Consequently, an issue before Congress is whether to use Federal resources and authority to help prevent further increases in home foreclosures and, if so, how to best accomplish this objective. Foreclosure refers to formal legal proceedings initiated by a mortgage lender against a homeowner after the homeowner has missed a certain number of payments on his or her mortgage. When a…
