The Federal Housing Administration lost relevance in the first half of the decade when home prices soared and borrowers turned to easy-to-get subprime loans with lower upfront costs. But as the mortgage market unraveled, borrowers flocked back to the FHA. The agency does not make loans. It insures qualified lenders against losses if borrowers default. Since its creation in 1934, it has collected fees from its borrowers to pay lenders for loans gone bad. In the past year and a half, FHA-insured loans made up roughly 30 percent of all new single-family home purchase mortgages — up from 3 percent in 2006 — and about 20 percent of new refinancing deals.
But as the agency's loan volume expanded, its default rate shot up. The cash reserves the FHA has set aside to pay for unexpected losses have eroded to dangerously low levels. If FHA funds are depleted, taxpayers would have to come to the rescue for the first time in the agency's history. The agency is now trying to protect itself against risk without undermining its key role in propping up the housing market. To that end, the FHA has tightened some standards while loosening others.
© 2010 The Washington Post Company
No comments:
Post a Comment