Delinquencies on subprime mortgages continued to decline in the third quarter of 2015, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The trade group said the non-seasonally adjusted serious delinquent rate for subprime mortgages hit 12.66 percent at the end of September, the ninth consecutive quarterly decline. The subprime serious delinquent rate was down from 13.40 percent in the second quarter of 2015, 15.52 percent in the third quarter of 2014 and 21.25 percent in ...
The Federal Housing Finance Agency announced this week that the baseline conforming-loan limit for the government-sponsored enterprises will remain unchanged in 2016 at $417,000. High-cost loan limits will increase in 39 counties next year, up to a maximum of $625,500 in the continental U.S. Fitch Ratings downgraded various servicer ratings for Residential Credit Solutions last week. The rating service said regulatory scrutiny ... [Includes four briefs]
Despite FHA’s denial of further mortgage insurance premium reductions any time soon, stakeholders are holding out hope for another cut in the near future. Those supporting the idea of another pricing adjustment say it could open the door wider for more borrowers to use the FHA single-family program and generate the volume needed to offset any potential revenue loss that may result from the reduction. But Housing and Urban Development Secretary Julian Castro and his top officials have denied any plans of reducing MIPs. Castro has called such talk “premature,” despite a positive FY 2015 actuarial evaluation of the FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, which some claim could be used to justify another premium reduction. Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for Housing and Interim FHA Chief Ed Golding, in a press briefing, said the focus is elsewhere and not on ...
Though the Department of Housing and Urban Development strongly highlighted the positive aspects of the FY 2015 actuarial report on the state of Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund, it also downplayed the impact of the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage portfolio on the latest projections. FHA’s volatile HECM portfolio has had an unpredictable impact on the MMI Fund – a drag in some years and a boost in others. According to the report, the actuarial value of HECM capital has swung dramatically over the last four years and stood at $6.8 billion in FY 2015, up from negative $1.2 billion in fiscal 2014. The 6.44 percent spike in HECM gains helped boost the MMI Fund’s capital reserve ratio to 2.07 percent, in excess of the minimum 2.0 percent capital requirement. Excluding HECMs, the FHA fund – and the forward portfolio – would be at 1.6 percent, below the 2.0 percent threshold. The ...
The FHA has issued temporary guidance for approving condominium projects for agency financing – a good first step, according to industry groups. Stakeholders have been waiting for a broader rewrite of the condominium rules for years, and they see the interim guidance as limited but positive. Announced on Nov. 13, the guidance is in place for a year while the FHA works on a more comprehensive rule that addresses all condominium lenders’ concerns. The temporary guidelines modify the requirements for condominium project recertification. It can cost up to $3,000 and, in some cases, take more than a year, to complete a condominium recertification project. The certification is good for only two years. Condo projects run afoul of FHA rules when the certification lapses, rendering the ...
Given the president’s intention to defend the Dodd-Frank Act for the remainder of his term, an industry-wide QM safe harbor for portfolio mortgages is “a heavy lift,” said former FHA chief Dave Stevens.
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