Tag Archives: Federal Housing Administration

According to new research by the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) International Center on Housing Risk (ICHR), the FHA’s price cut was largely capitalized into the purchase of higher priced homes. The research reviewed over 2.5 million first-time homebuyer loans. Edward Pinto, the research author and co-director of AEI’s International Center on Housing Risk said that the effort to reduce mortgage premiums did little to expand access to middle-and lower-wealth borrowers, while the National Association of Realtors (NAR) and other housing interest groups reaped the benefits of the higher home prices.

Lenders can expect to see some changes and clarification with how the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) will handle defect taxonomy and their guidelines. Today, the FHA posted its Single Family Loan Quality Assessment Methodology or “Defect Taxonomy”, which explains how FHA intends to categorize loan defects found in Single Family FHA endorsed loans today.

The Department of Justice’s Office of Public Affairs recently reported that First Tennessee Bank N.A., headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee, has agreed to pay $212.5 million to resolve allegations of its violation of the False Claims Act that stems from Federal Housing Administration-insured (FHA) mortgage lending. Allegedly, First Tennessee Bank knowingly originated and underwrote mortgage loans insured by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s (HUD) FHA that did not meet applicable requirements, the Justice Department reported.

A working paper titled, “What’s Behind the Non-Bank Mortgage Boom?”, released by the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government at Harvard's Kennedy School found that, non-bank lending institutions have increased their market share of agency purchase mortgage originations from 27 percent in mid-2012 to 48 percent in late 2014. The study is authored by senior fellow, Marshall Lux, and research assistant, Robert Greene.

There are many metrics by which to judge the current administration against those of the past. This week, ValueWalk ranked the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ presidents as judged by their homeownership rates. Making ValueWalk’s ‘best’ list were Presidents Clinton, Johnson (Lydon), and Carter who saw homeownership expand during their presidencies by 5.1 percent, just over 1.1 percent, and just under 1.1. percent, respectively. ValueWalk ranks President Obama as one of the worst presidents when it comes to homeownership numbers, followed by President Regan

The federal judge overseeing a $189 million mortgage insurance lawsuit against Wells Fargo admonished prosecutors Tuesday for dumping millions of documents on the bank so late in the process, making good on an earlier warning against using dumping tactics in the case.

Edward Golding, a senior adviser at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, has been named by the White House as the leader of the Federal Housing Administration, according to HUD.

The Housing and Insurance Subcommittee of the House Committee on Financial Services will hold the second hearing in the series, entitled The Future of Housing in America: Oversight of the Federal Housing Administration, Part II, on Thursday, February 26, beginning at 10 a.m. Eastern time.

San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro, the president's pick to replace Shaun Donovan as secretary of HUD, appeared to breeze through his first nomination challenge Tuesday as he fielded questions from the Senate Banking Committee. Facing questions from the group of senators, Castro addressed the current stability and role of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which had to take a $1.7 billion bailout last year for the first time in its history.

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) put out a “flash release” of its National Mortgage Risk Index (NMRI), a measure of the likelihood of purchase loan defaults under stressful economic conditions. According to the group, the index climbed last month to 11.89, indicating nearly 12 percent of loans would be at risk of default in the event of another downturn. That figure is up from a reading of 11.5 percent in March and represents a series high for the index.