The Department of Housing and Urban Development is facing criticism for its handling of FHA’s loan quality assessment methodology. A draft of the so-called defect taxonomy was published without proper departmental clearance, according to a recent report by HUD’s Office of Inspector General. The defect taxonomy is one of 13 FHA-related documents the OIG claims were not properly cleared. The OIG called on HUD to pursue departmental clearance for the documents and policies and to recall any documents that can’t be appropriately cleared. A recall of the defect taxonomy would be...
Ben Carson, who is expected to be confirmed soon as the next secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, said he’s looking for an experienced mortgage professional to guide the FHA program during his tenure. In recent years, the top FHA job has been held by people with more experience in government than in the mortgage business. The last industry veteran in the post was Dave Stevens, who brought years of mortgage finance experience when he took the job in the first Obama administration. He left in 2011 to become president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association. In response to written questions from Senate Democrats, Carson said...
Nondepositories now dominate FHA production after several large banks exited the government program due to growing concern over potential liability arising from federal lawsuits…
FHA single-family endorsements declined 5.5 percent from the third to the fourth quarter of 2016, losing some market share, while VA saw a modest uptick in guaranteed loans, thanks to robust refinancing activity. The FHA endorsed a total of $68.3 billion of forward mortgages during the fourth quarter, according to an Inside FHA/VA Lending analysis and ranking. That brought total production over a 12-month period to $255.6 billion (excluding Home Equity Conversion Mortgage loans), a 7.3 percent increase over 2015. FHA activity in the purchase market fell 13.6 percent in the fourth quarter though annual volume was up 14.3 percent from 2015. While FHA historically has been stronger in the purchase market, 2016 proved to be a more competitive year for FHA streamlined refinancing. FHA-to-FHA refinance endorsements rose 15.6 percent in the fourth quarter from the prior quarter, but ... [ 5 charts ]
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