Tag Archives: FHA

Following an independent review of its finances, FHA reported to Congress Monday that its Mutual Mortgage Insurance (MMI) Fund is valued at $4.8 billion for the fiscal year 2014, a step up from last year's shortfall of $1.3 billion.

Total mortgage application volume, including both purchase loans and refinances, dipped a seasonally adjusted 0.9 percent for the week ending November 7, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).

In its annual survey of homebuyers and sellers, the National Association of Realtors (NAR) found that only about 33 percent of home purchases in the last year were made by first-time buyers, down from 38 percent in last year's survey and the long-term average of 40 percent.

HUD Secretary Julian Castro unveiled in a speech the points of the agency's "Blueprint for Access" meant to ease the risk of lending while expanding credit. "It's in our entire nation's interest to help more responsible Americans succeed in the housing market by expanding access to credit," Castro said.

The Office of Inspector General for HUD announced that civil investigations of some of the Federal Housing Administration's (FHA) largest lenders have resulted in significant settlements in the last year. "These settlements are the latest step in a continuing effort to bring to light significant problems that we have identified in the loan underwriting practices of a number of large FHA-approved lenders, which have or will provide a meaningful financial boost to the FHA insurance fund," HUD OIG David A. Montoya said.

AEI's National Mortgage Risk Index measured 11.3 percent last month, little changed from July's index, the group said. As a stress test, the index measures the percentage of loans that would be at risk of turning sour in the event of an economic downturn. Though the index has come down in recent months, it remains nearly twice the acceptable level "conducive to a stable market," AEI said.

According to information released Monday by the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), the share of home purchase loans made to low- and moderate-income applicants declined to 26 percent in 2013 from 31 percent the year prior. The share of refinance loans going to those borrowers came up just slightly, rising to 20 percent from 19 percent in 2012.

MBA's Mortgage Credit Availability Index (MCAI), a gauge of credit access based on borrower profiles and underwriting criteria at lenders nationwide, slipped to 116.1 last month from 116.4 in July, the group reported. A decline indicates tighter standards overall in the market. Both the conventional lending and government-focused indices edged down as well, each declining less than a percentage point from July.

The Federal Housing Administration announced revisions to rules surrounding post-payment interest charges and adjustable rate notifications. "Together, these new rules are responsive to the regulations implementing the Truth-in-Lending Act (Regulation Z) as revised last year by the CFPB," the agency said in a release.

Loan risk in the mortgage market slid down again in July but remained far above safe levels, according to the latest measure from the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). The group reported that 11.41 percent of home purchase loans measured in its National Mortgage Risk Index (NMRI) would be at serious risk under "severely stressed" economic conditions.