From Boston.com:
It seems the good news for first-time home buyers continues. The Obama Administration has unveiled a plan that will help local agencies finance mortgages for first-time home buyers.
So far this year local agencies have sold about $4 billion in tax-exempt bonds which are used to finance such mortgages. This is only 25% of what is typically sold per year.
Fannie Mae and Freddie will packages mortgages together from theses agencies and sell them as bonds to the Treasury Department. One very important piece of this plan is that the assumed cost to the government will be zero, as any losses will be paid for by fees to the local agencies.
Although agencies only aid between 100,000 and 200,000 first time home buyers a year, every little bit helps.