The Obama administration has laid out final guidelines that should make it easier for some financially troubled borrowers to sell their homes.

The guidelines are designed to encourage the use of short sales, transactions in which the borrower with lender approval sells the home for less than what is owed on the loan. The program also makes it easier for borrowers to voluntarily transfer ownership of properties through a "deed in lieu of foreclosure."

Short sales can result in higher prices than foreclosures and can be less damaging to local neighbourhoods, in part because homes aren't left vacant and exposed to vandalism. But these transactions are often difficult to complete.

Wall Street Journal