Difficult news for FHA clients. As home prices climb on the San Francisco Peninsula, saving money for your down payment feels like a heroic act. FHA offers low down payments, 3.5% of the purchase price, but now the strings attached are growing tight. Please enjoy this article from CNNMoney.
FHA to hike premiums on mortgages
The Federal Housing Administration, which is the largest insurer of low-down payment mortgages, announced that it will raise premiums by 10 basis points, or 0.1 percent, on most of the new mortgages it insures.
Making sense of the story
- A borrower opting for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage who puts down 5 percent or more will now pay an annual insurance premium of 1.3 percent of their outstanding balance. Someone who puts down less than 5 percent will pay a premium of 1.35 percent.
- The FHA said it also will raise premiums for borrowers with jumbo loans – loans of $625,000 or more – by 5 basis points, and increase the minimum down payment requirement on these loans to 5 percent from 3.5 percent.
- Additionally, the FHA said it will require most buyers to pay insurance premiums for the life of their loan. A policy that was put in place in 2001 allowed borrowers to cancel premium payments once their debt fell below 78 percent of the principal balance. One exception will be for borrowers who put more than 10 percent down at the time of purchase.
- Other new policies include a requirement that any mortgage for an applicant with less than a 620 credit score and debt-to-income ratio above 43 percent must be underwritten manually. Lenders who want to issue loans to these applicants must be able to adequately document why they decided to approve the loans.
The FHA also decided to put new restrictions on reverse mortgages, no longer permitting retirees to take such large, upfront payments.
More on this story from CNNMoney
By Les Christie @CNNMoney
Government-insured mortgages are about to get more expensive.
Translation: A borrower opting for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage who puts 5% or more down will now pay an annual insurance premium of 1.3% of their outstanding balance. And someone who puts less than 5% down will pay a premium of 1.35%.
The agency said it will also raise premiums for borrowers with jumbo loans — or loans of $625,000 or more — by 5 basis points, or 0.05%, and increase the minimum down payment requirement on these loans to 5% from 3.5%.
FHA said it will require most buyers to pay insurance premiums for the life of their loan. A policy that was put in place in 2001 allowed borrowers to cancel premium payments once their debt fell below 78% of the principal balance. One exception will be for borrowers who put more than 10% down at the time of purchase.
Additional new policies include a requirement that any mortgage for an applicant with less than a 620 credit score and debt-to-income ratio above 43% must be underwritten manually. Lenders who want to issue loans to these applicants must be able to adequately document why they decided to approve the loans.
The agency also decided to put new restrictions on reverse mortgages, no longer permitting retirees to take such large, upfront payments.
The changes are an effort to reduce the agency’s exposure to risky loans and bolster its financial reserves, which have been depleted due to high delinquency rates from the mortgage crisis. The agency did not say when the new rates will take effect.
Last spring, FHA increased both premiums and upfront costs on mortgages. Such hikes make it tougher for mortgage borrowers — especially first-time purchasers who can’t afford the large down payments most private lenders require today, according to Jaret Seiberg, a Washington policy analyst for Guggenheim Partners. “They are the ones most likely to turn to the FHA for credit,” he said.
And that could have a negative impact on the housing market overall. “You can’t have a healthy housing market without a constant influx of first-time buyers,” said Seiberg.
I read this article at: http://money.cnn.com/2013/01/31/real_estate/fha-mortgage-premiums/index.html?iid=HP_LN&hpt=hp_t2
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