FHA single-family mortgage production was up 22.3 percent in 2012, but another increase in the mortgage insurance premiums will likely accelerate the program’s three-year decline in market share. The Department of Housing and Urban Development late last week issued formal guidance to raise the annual MIP by another 10 basis points, taking effect for loans processed after April 1. It marks the fifth time HUD has raised FHA premiums in the past three years and raises the annual MIP to as much as 155 bps, for super-jumbo loans exceeding $625,500 with loan-to-value ratios over 95 percent and 30-year terms. That’s actually a relatively small slice of the FHA market: super-jumbo loans (which have...[Includes one data chart]

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill this week mulled over how to strengthen the shaky financial condition of the FHA single-family insurance fund and reduce the risk to taxpayers of another government bailout, while shrinking the agency’s market footprint without disrupting the market’s fragile recovery. Partisan differences were immediately on display, predictably, as Republicans slammed the agency while Democrats defended it. “If the FHA was...

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac lenders will be allowed to offer certain additional incentives to encourage more borrowers, particularly those underwater, to refinance under the Home Affordable Refinance Program, according to guidance issued by the two government-sponsored enterprises. The GSEs announced last week that lenders will be allowed to offer a “refinancing incentive” to underwater borrowers so they may obtain a lower payment or move to a more stable product or a shorter term. “As a result of lender inquiries, the Federal Housing Finance Agency has led...

HARP 3.0 Status Update: Democrats in both the Senate and the White House are warming up efforts to expand government-backed refinance programs in order to assist underwater homeowners whose mortgages are packaged into non-agency securities. Repurposed refi proposals from last year are poised to be re-introduced in the 113th Congress with the active and vocal support of the Treasury Department, which may enact its own initiative if lawmakers can’t or won’t pass a measure. “We must expand...

The Federal Housing Administration is cracking down on down payment assistance programs, tracking the source of gift money.

Lawmakers worry about FHA's financial condition during Wednesday hearing.

First Guaranty is experiencing strong growth in its servicing business. Meanwhile, lenders worry about higher net worth requirements from the GSEs.

Despite the bad press and the elimination of the standard fixed-rate reverse mortgage product from the Home Equity Conversion Mortgage program, reverse mortgages will continue to thrive simply because people grow old, former Ginnie Mae chief Joe Murin told Inside FHA Lending.

Inside Mortgage Finance shortly will publish its final 4Q ranking of FHA lenders, but it appears that the October-December period was one of the strongest in terms of loan production in quite some time ...plus other mortgage briefs.

HUD is investigating reports that a loan officer of an approved FHA lender had participated in a reverse mortgage borrower’s counseling session, a practice HUD frowns upon.