And in an effort to prevent a wave of foreclosures that would risk capsizing America's red-hot housing market, the Administration has devised a new program designed to offer more relief to homeowners who still can't afford their mortgage payments (typically, because their household income has yet to recover), WSJ reports.

Presently, homeowners are allowed to skip monthly payments for up to 18 months with no penalty (on the understanding they make them up later). But for borrowers who opted into the plan early in the pandemic, the relief will expire later this year (while banks will be allowed to resume foreclosures as of July 31).

That so many American borrowers need this assistance - which at best will function as a kind of band-aid, since borrowers will still need to make good on their debts - is a reminder that the torrid advance in home prices across the US might be vulnerable to a 2007-style reversal.