Homebuyer Tax Credit: Another on the Way?

Could this month's dreadful home sales numbers prompt the feds to offer another homebuyer tax credit? Mum's the word on Capitol Hill, but HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan would not rule out the option during an interview Sunday on CNN. Existing-home sales sank 27.2 percent in July, and sales of new homes dropped to their lowest point since 1963. The dreary sales figures arrive on the heels of the end of the up-to-$8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit, which expired at the end of April. July was to be the first month in which home sales would reflect consumer confidence after the deadline. While most analysts anticipated a drop in sales after the tax credit, Donovan admitted that the decline was worse than expected. "It's too early to say whether the tax credit will be revived," he said, but he added that the government would do "everything [it] can" to stabilize the housing market. What Donovan would confirm, however, is the creation of two new programs: an FHA refinancing effort to help underwater homeowners and an "emergency home loan program" for unemployed borrowers facing foreclosure.