Statistics gathered from various industry sources show that delinquencies on FHA-insured loans have risen proportionately with the FHA’s increased market share, but some data show an alarmingly high delinquency rate for the FHA loans made last year. The most recent Department of Housing and Urban Development numbers show a climbing delinquency rate. HUD data through the end of... Read More

FHA-approved lenders will soon be able to offer the first-time homebuyer tax credit of up to $8,000 to borrowers as a downpayment on their FHA loan, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun Donovan announced last week. Some analysts are questioning the new initiative and its similarities to seller-funded downpayment assistance programs that HUD has tried to prohibit... Read More

President Obama signed into law this week a measure that will make significant changes to the struggling HOPE for Homeowners refinance program and give the FHA more flexibility in doing loan modifications. The House agreed to the Senate version of the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act after months of debate. One major push of the law expands the FHA’s ability to modify the loans it insures... Read More

Borrowers taking FHA-insured mortgages continue to have higher credit scores, on average, according to the latest Inside FHA Lending analysis of FHA data. The average FICO score for borrowers in all FHA transactions rose to 692 in February 2009, the most recent Department of Housing and Urban Development data available. That mark is up from 689 in January... [Includes one graph] Read More

Moody’s Investors Service last week placed the ratings of 386 non-agency mortgage-backed securities tranches backed by re-performing FHA and VA loans on review for possible downgrade due to concerns about recent performance trends in such deals. The MBS, issued from 2002 to 2007, were created at a time when servicers could... Read More

Ocwen Eying FHA Servicing Rights: Florida-based Ocwen Financial Corp., best known for servicing subprime mortgages, is reportedly... Lend America Takes Lead on H4H: Lend America this week announced that it became the first lender in the country to receive... FHA SafeGuard Launched to Match Loans with FHA Standards: Colorado-based mortgage service provider Motivity Solutions... Read More

A strong month of March pushed FHA originations to $72.459 billion in the first quarter, a 0.6 percent increase over the mark from the end of 2008, according to the latest Inside FHA Lending analysis of government data. Huge refinance waves at government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac caused the FHA’s market share of total originations to fall from... [Includes one chart] Read More