Some real estate agents are refusing to accept offers from buyers using FHA financing prompting minority rights advocates to question whether racial discrimination is causing the problem or some other factors. While illegal flipping and steering that targeted minority communities appear to have abated, bias against borrowers using FHA financing continues in the real estate market, according to Janis Bowdler, director of the Wealth-Building Policy project of the National Council of La Raza. Bowdler expressed her concern during a recent panel discussion of an FHA Working Paper on the FHA’s role in the housing finance market hosted by the Urban Institute. She said there have been reports of ...

Ginnie Mae is in sound financial health and poised to potentially absorb any FHA losses, if required, but the enduring fallout from Taylor, Bean & Whitaker’s collapse three years ago continues to plague the agency, according to an independent audit commissioned by the Department of Housing and Urban Development Inspector General. The report by CliftonLarsonAllen disclosed no material weaknesses in Ginnie’s internal controls over financial reporting and no instance of legal or regulatory noncompliance during fiscal years 2012 and 2011. Ginnie’s loss reserves for its MBS program declined to $357.4 million in fiscal 2012, from $395.8 million at the end of fiscal 2011. “Ginnie Mae believes...

The Department of Housing and Urban Development has announced changes to existing loss mitigation options to reduce the number of claims against the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund.The changes will benefit qualified, distressed FHA borrowers, who will be able to qualify for FHA loss mitigation interventions and get more help than what was allowed under previous guidelines. HUD has issued a mortgagee letter to amend existing FHA Home Affordable Modification Program guidelines, the definition of “special forbearance,” and loss mitigation-priority guidelines. Specifically, HUD eliminated the ...

Private mortgage insurers have been making a slow comeback and reclaiming market share, thanks in part to policy changes adopted by the FHA, according to MI industry executives. Executives say MI penetration of the market has grown from 2.8 percent in the first quarter of 2012 to anywhere between 8-10 percent in the third quarter, an increase they attributed in part to gaining market share from FHA. Currently, private MI companies account for approximately one-third of loans with loan-to-value ratios of 80 percent or more, which are also ...

FHA Loan Delinquencies Drop in 3Q. The number of delinquent loans with FHA insurance has dropped 75 basis points to 11.14 percent in the third quarter of 2012 from the previous quarter, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s latest delinquency and foreclosure rates survey. Foreclosure starts and the percentage of loans in foreclosure fell after a spike in the second quarter when some larger servicers restarted the foreclosure process after being stalled for more than a year by the “robo-signing” investigations and subsequent negotiations. Both rates, however, remain ...

Private mortgage insurers posted an impressive 26.5 percent increase in new insurance written during the third quarter of 2012, but four of the industry’s six active firms are gradually taking market share away from their rivals. Private MIs insured $51.76 billion in new mortgage originations during the third quarter, according to a new Inside Mortgage Finance ranking and analysis, making it the strongest quarter for the beleaguered industry since the second quarter of 2008. FHA and VA lending grew at a much slower pace, climbing just 2.1 percent and 4.0 percent, respectively, during the third quarter. The result was...[Includes two data charts]

The private mortgage insurance industry is expressing optimism with the positive changes seen lately in the housing market while hoping that Congress or the Obama administration do nothing to impede or spoil the market’s recovery. Industry executives say stabilizing home values, low interest rates, better quality mortgages and a shrinking FHA share of the mortgage market are helping MIs win back market share and write new business. “Everybody is trying to write as much business as they can to regain share,” said Michael Zimmerman, senior vice president for investor relations at Mortgage Guarany Insurance Corp. New insurance written is...

Although mortgage market watchers cautiously expect President Obama and the lame-duck session of the 112th Congress to come up with at least a stop-gap deal to avoid the looming “fiscal cliff” at year’s end, building uncertainty among homeowners and potential borrowers as to whether important mortgage tax deductions will exist in 2013 threatens to thwart housing’s fragile recovery. Unless Congress and the president create and sign new legislation to change existing law before Jan. 1, 2013, taxpayers are poised to be hit with a massive combination of expiring tax breaks, tax hikes and deep, automatic federal spending cuts. A report last week by the Congressional Budget Office concluded that a failure to avoid the cliff would push the economy back into recession with the unemployment rate shooting up to 9.1 percent by next fall. Fitch Ratings warns...

Wells Fargo has asked a federal district court in Washington, DC, to declare the U.S. government in violation of the terms of the landmark $25 billion mortgage servicing fraud settlement earlier this year that resolved federal and state claims against the bank and four other major servicers for alleged servicing malpractices. In a complaint filed last week, Wells Fargo also asked the D.C. court to order the Department of Justice to halt all legal actions seeking to impose additional liability on Wells Fargo based on a ...

There is substantial risk that the FHA may end up with a negative net worth, which would require congressional appropriations for the mortgage insurance fund and passage of legislation reforming the FHA, said a former top official at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. In remarks this week at the Urban Institute, John Weicher, former assistant secretary for housing and FHA commissioner in 2001-2005, said it is very unlikely in this weak economic recovery to see ...