The FHA allows low downpayments on loans that have credit scores as low as 580, but numerous lenders have established their own underwriting overlays to protect against poor performance.

January 2014 marked the fourth month in a row where combined agency securitization included more purchase-money mortgages than refinances, according to Inside MBS & ABS.

Average credit scores and debt-to-income ratios on FHA mortgages loosened as 2013 progressed, according to an analysis by Inside Mortgage Finance. Lenders have gotten particularly aggressive regarding credit score requirements, and recent changes to FHA guidelines could prompt further loosening on DTI ratios. According to an Inside Mortgage Finance analysis of Ginnie Mae loan-level mortgage-backed security data, the average credit score on FHA loans was 706.1 in January. However, as FHA originations declined during the year, average credit scores on FHA loans also fell, hitting 685.4 in December. Average credit scores on FHA originations could continue...[Includes one data chart]

The nation’s third largest FHA servicer also admitted that it failed to inform the government mortgage insurers when its own internal reviews discovered more than 500 defective loans that never should have been submitted for coverage.

The HUD chief told Hispanic real estate professionals that in today’s market, mortgage credit is too hard to obtain for consumers with low credit scores.

American Advisors Group, whose spokesman is former U.S. Sen. Fred Thompson, R-TN, led with $1.05 billion in reverse mortgage originations and a 9 percent market share.

An industry source said lenders in the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario housing market are gearing up to petition HUD to recalculate the FHA loan limits in those areas.

Total FHA delinquencies rose slightly while the percentage of seriously delinquent loans remained flat in the fourth quarter of 2013, according to an Inside FHA Lending analysis of FHA servicing data. Data showed delinquencies of 90 days or more remained unchanged at 8.1 percent from the previous quarter even as total FHA delinquencies increased a bit to 15.2 percent from 15.1 quarter over quarter. The share of loans that are 30-60 days behind on their payment also increased to 7.1 percent from 6.9 percent over the same period. As of Dec. 31, FHA servicers had a combined ... [1 chart]

Although the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac common securitization platform is now legally incorporated, has a signed lease for office space in suburban Maryland and is growing staff, it still doesn’t have a chief executive and chairman – two essentials to be taken seriously by the market. “It’s pretty much turned into the mess I suspected it would a year ago,” said one former candidate for the CEO job, who spoke under the condition his name not be used. Discussing the chairman position, he added...

President Obama’s scant mention of housing finance reform or mortgage policy during this week’s State of the Union address was not entirely a surprise, say industry observers, but an administration official’s remarks last week on the Home Affordable Refinance Program’s outlook were more encouraging. Obama spoke of housing exactly twice during his prime time speech: first to describe the housing market as “rebounding” and again to demand from Congress “legislation that protects the taxpayers from footing the bill for a housing crisis ever again.” Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac were mentioned...