The following statement was issued today by Joy Jamison, President of the National Association of Black Mortgage Brokers in response to October existing-home sales figures released by the National Association of Realtors. A 3.1 percent drop was reported in sales and the median home price suffered its largest drop on record.

"The grim 3.1 percent drop in existing-home sales in October released by the National Association of Realtors may be just the tip of the iceberg. There are an abundance of homes sitting on the market waiting to be purchased and there are hundreds of thousands of hardworking Americans, particularly minorities, who want nothing more than to be homeowners. The disconnect lies in a lack of available programs to bridge these people to access these homes. Seller-funded downpayment assistance (DPA), one extremely successful program that accomplished this goal, was banned on October 1 after helping more than one million Americans become homeowners. Reinstating DPA would help innumerable minorities realize their dream of becoming homeowners while bolstering the housing market and helping stem the vast inventory of homes weighting on the health of the overall economy."

Joy Jamison is the president of the National Association of Black Mortgage Brokers.

Source: National Association of Black Mortgage Brokers