Lenders originated $4.93 billion of rural housing loans with a U.S. Department of Agriculture guarantee during the fourth quarter of last year, 33.2 percent more than volume reported during the same period the year prior, according to the Housing Assistance Council’s report on USDA Rural Housing program obligations. USDA provided guarantees under the Section 502 Guaranteed Rural Housing Loan program to 34,412 rural housing loans in the fourth quarter, up from 26,889 loans ($3.7 billion) at the end of 2015. The program is the largest of the USDA’s single-family housing programs. For the Section 502 Direct Guarantee program, guarantees exceeded $196.6 million (1,492 loans), up from $174.7 million (1,334 loans) at the end of 2015. Very low-income (VLI) loan obligations as a percentage of taxpayer funds allocated to the USDA direct loan guarantee program were 38.9 percent, exceeding the ...