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National Foreclosure Mitigation Counseling (NFMC) Program, NeighborWorks America announced. According to a release, the seventh round of NFMC funds will go to 30 state housing finance agencies (HFAs), 17 HUD-approved housing counseling intermediaries, and 72 community-based NeighborWorks organizations. NeighborWorks selects and distributes the funds to organizations that provide counseling services. Through the award, more than 1,200 nonprofit counseling agencies and local NeighborWorks organizations should take part in the program, while 193,000 struggling families are expected to receive assistance. Washington D.C.-based NeighborWorks also projects 2,000 counselors will be trained with the funds. The participating organizations will be able to provide free foreclosure assistance by helping struggling homeowners make informed decisions. The group says demand for NFMC grant funds currently remains high and eligible applicants have requested more than $105 million in NFMC grant funds. Estimates also show foreclosure is likely to affect more than one million people this year, according to NeighborWorks. To date, more than 1.56 million families have received foreclosure counseling through the NFMC Program. NeighborWorks believes that through pre-purchase housing counseling, many families can avoid foreclosure. Research from the group revealed homeowners who received NeighborWorks pre-purchase guidance were 33 percent less likely to become delinquent compared to homeowners who didn't receive counseling. Fannie Mae's Research Group Provides Analysis on Housing, Economy Housing continues to be a bright spot in the economy, contributing positively to GDP. In fact, Fannie Mae cited the sector as "the most likely source of upside to our forecast" in its April 2013 Economic Outlook. According to the GSE's Economic & Strategic Research (ESR) group, residential investment—once a drag on the economy— has contributed positively or neutrally to the nation's economic growth for the past seven 84 quarters. The GSE expects this trend to continue this year. Home sales charted their highest levels in recent years at the start of this year. Overall, economic growth in the first quarter outpaced expectations, rising at a rate of 3.2 percent. Business inventories contributed to this growth, but the "one-time boost" is not expected to contribute again, according to Fannie Mae. "The April forecast reflects the growing realization that 2013 is off to a good start from a GDP perspective, but we expect the stronger-than-expected first quarter pace to slow somewhat in the second quarter," said Doug Duncan, chief economist at Fannie Mae. Additionally, March's disappointing employment report, amid other economic headwinds, leads Fannie Mae to label firstquarter growth "unsustainable." "On the downside, tax hikes, sequestration, and the euro-zone crisis still pose significant risks to our forecast, and the fiscal tightening will likely affect consumer spending and other economic activity in coming months," Duncan said. Fannie Mae's economists expect GDP to land around 2.3 percent for the year, slower than the pace reached in the first quarter, but still higher than last year's 2 percent and the previous year's 1.7 percent. Fannie Mae's ESR group also believes homebuilding activity will bounce back to normal by 2016, but employment in residential construction may not recover as well. In a commentary, the ESR group examined the residential construction sector, which lost 41 percent of jobs between 2006 and 2011 due to the housing bust. Even though housing starts are expected to double the next four years, the group is doubtful that employment in the industry will see the same rebound. If housing starts do indeed return to normal levels in 2016, residential construction employment is predicted to rise to nearly 2.5 million jobs, an increase of 412,000 above current levels. Despite that gain, homebuilding employment is forecast to remain nearly 1 million less than it was at the peak of the housing boom. "Full recovery is unlikely in the near term because residential construction employment exceeded levels needed to meet fundamental housing demand growth by roughly 1.6 million jobs at the top of the housing bubble," the group explains in its report. "The number of homebuilding jobs is now better aligned with fundamental de- mand, setting the stage for sustained gains in homebuilding employment. "However, even with renewed job growth, many residential construction workers who were employed at the peak of the boom and displaced during the downturn are unlikely to regain employment in their former trade and might need assistance in transitioning to work in other sectors of the economy," the researchers continue. Even with the housing construction recovery providing lift to the residential sector and the broader economy (helping home sales, mortgage lending, home furnishings sales, and manufacturing), the number of former builders unable to return to construction might prove to be a drag on economic growth, the report concludes. KNOW THIS Home sales in D.C. totaled 7,549 for the 12 months ending in March, according to data from CoreLogic. Florida rank: 1 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate March 2013 3.7% Unemployment Rate 11.1% 7.5% year ago 3.9% 14.1% 8.9% year-over-year change -5.3% -21.4% -15.7% Top County OkeeChObee COunTy 90+ Day Foreclosure Delinquency Rate Rate March 2013 4.7% 16.0% year ago 4.0% 18.5% year-over-year change 16.5% -13.7% Top Core-based Statistical Area OkeeChObee, FL 90+ Day Delinquency Rate Foreclosure Rate March 2013 4.7% 16.0% year ago 4.0% 18.5% year-over-year change 16.5% -13.7% note: The 90+ day delinquecy rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans that are seriously delinquent. The foreclosure rate is the percentage of outstanding mortgage loans currently in foreclosure. State rank is based on the March 2013 foreclosure rate. All figures are rounded to the nearest decimal. The unemployment rate reflects preliminary March 2013 figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. All other data courtesy of LPS Applied Analytics.

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