In an effort to promote affordable and sustainable homeownership, especially among credit-worthy first-time buyers, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) today published a long-awaited final regulation, and policy implementation guidance, which establish a new condominium approval process.
Designed to be flexible and responsive to market conditions, FHA’s new condo rule and the new Condominium Project Approval section of the Single Family Housing Policy Handbook, provide a comprehensive revision to FHA condominium project approval policy. In particular, the new policy will allow certain individual condominium units to be eligible for FHA mortgage insurance even if the condominium project is not FHA approved. The polices become effective October 15, 2019.
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“We are thrilled that Secretary Carson has taken this much-needed step to put the American Dream within reach for thousands of additional families,” said NAR President John Smaby, a second generation Realtor® and broker at Edina Realty in Edina, Minnesota. “It goes without saying that condominiums are often the most affordable option for first time homebuyers, small families and those in urban areas. This ruling, which culminates years of collaboration between HUD and NAR, will help reverse recent declines in condo sales and ensure the FHA is fulfilling its primary mission to the American people.”
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For mortgage originators, closing more loans is tough enough given the competition, lenders creating their own direct-to-homebuyer divisions and rising interest rates. Add to the list of troubles a curious case of inaction related to condominium financing.
Politics have always been the inescapable byproduct of democracy. Voters elect representatives, who in turn lobby for money and legislation on behalf of their constituency. Inevitable horse trading ensues with quid-pro-quo compromises serving as a politician’s currency. Although this dance is expected to happen within legislative bodies, it isn’t supposed to happen within federal agencies.
Spot approval
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has many functions, one of which is to maintain the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage insurance fund, as well as to craft the guidelines that govern lending for FHA residential mortgages.
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A bill has been introduced in Congress which proposes that borrowers with Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans will no longer have to pay mortgage insurance premiums for the life of the loan.
The “Making FHA More Affordable Act,” proposed by Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), would reinstate the FHA’s previous policy of only requiring premiums until the outstanding principal balance reaches 78% of the original home value, similar to the policy for private mortgage insurers under current law.
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Could condos financed with low down payment government-backed mortgages stage a surprise comeback under the Trump administration, which generally seeks to reduce federal involvement in housing? Would this be promising news for millennials and buyers with moderate incomes looking to purchase their first homes?
You bet — provided you take Housing and Urban Development secretary Ben Carson at his word. Speaking to a Realtor convention last week, Carson said he is “in lockstep” with proposals to revive the Federal Housing Administration’s condo financing program, which has been bogged down with controversial regulations and low volumes in recent years.
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When properties are eligible for FHA financing, buyers enjoy lower down payment options and easier credit requirements. CRMLS has collaborated with RatePlug and FHA Pros to add FHA Eligibility Indicators to all condos and townhomes in CRMLS Matrix for members of Associations opting to use the service through the Association Product Co-Op. These subscribers can now simply look for the “traffic light” indicators on each condo and townhome listing in the MLS to determine if the property is FHA approved (green light), conditionally approved (yellow light), or not approved (red light). The new tool also provides helpful information about how to obtain FHA eligibility for unapproved properties.
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The National Association of Realtors (NAR) continues to make the case that the Trump administration should reinstate a cut to the insurance premiums on Federal Housing Administration (FHA) loans. Its latest study suggests that cheaper FHA mortgages could be a big help to borrowers in Trump country.
The administration’s move to cancel a 25 basis point cut will affect both high-cost areas, the trade group said, but also wide-swaths of rural and small-town America where FHA use is the highest and where Donald Trump had a strong base of election support.
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Prepayment speeds have fallen 40 per cent so far in 2017 and were down 15 per cent last month, the lowest monthly rate in three years.
A first look at data from Black Knight Financial’s loan database for February also reveals that foreclosure starts were down 18 per cent month-over-month and were 31 per cent down from a year earlier. Active foreclosure inventory is 470,000, the lowest since 2007.
The top 5 states by non-current percentage were Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, West Virginia and New Jersey. The bottom 5 were Idaho, Montana, Minnesota, Colorado and North Dakota.
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Call it a housing policy head fake — one with potentially painful consequences for moderate-income buyers, sellers and seniors in hundreds of condominium projects around the country. If you were thinking about purchasing a condo unit with a low-down-payment Federal Housing Administration mortgage in the coming year, this could affect you.
Last week, ostensibly yielding to a congressional mandate to make consumer-friendly FHA mortgages more widely available in condominiums, the government announced a move to do precisely that: Starting immediately, projects with fewer than half of their units occupied by owners may be eligible for certification for FHA financing. Under “certain circumstances,” the government said, projects with as low as 35 percent owner occupancy might now be eligible.
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A financial report due out soon could reignite a battle over whether the Federal Housing Administration should again reduce its annual premium.
The FHA last cut premiums in January 2015, a move that unleashed a lot of pent-up demand for agency-insured mortgages. While many in the industry have been urging FHA to make another cut, the agency has resisted due to concerns about its reserve fund, which rebounded last year but is still being watched carefully by nervous lawmakers.
But the agency is likely to come under more intense pressure to make another cut if independent auditors give the fund a positive review in a report due out in early November.
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