The Federal Reserve has raised interest rates, hoping to slow the white-hot housing market, but there is help for first time homebuyers in Maine.

MaineHousing offers home loans to first-time homebuyers with a lower interest rate, but the agency says what’s really needed is affordable new home construction, specifically for first-time homebuyers and working-class families.

“So many people we talk to are just desperate to find something,” Erik Jorgensen of MaineHousing said. “And they are really having trouble. They’re getting, people are outbidding them by hundreds of thousands of dollars in some cases. And it’s really disheartening for them.”