The Federal Housing Administration managed to lift its mortgage volume last month, though annual volume fell and upcoming activity appears headed lower. Serious delinquency has not improved for eight months.
FHA mortgagees obtained endorsements on 93,739 loans during December for $16.7 billion, according to FHA operational data.
Production was higher than 88,206 mortgages insured for $15.6 billion in November.
Business tumbled, however, from a year earlier, when 133,603 loans were endorsed for $26.4 billion.
Compared to November, refinance production was up 16 percent. December’s refinance share climbed to 35 percent from a third the previous month.
Endorsements for loans to finance home purchases edged up 3 percent.
Total applications, which provide some insight into upcoming endorsement volume, fell to 110,427 from November’s 125,596. Purchase applications tumbled 15 percent, while refinances were off just 7 percent.
The average turnaround from application to closing on FHAÂ mortgages lengthened to 6.1 weeks from 6.0 weeks in November. A year prior, the average processing time was 7.6 weeks.
FHA endorsed 4,635 home-equity conversion mortgages for a maximum claim amount of $1.1 billion during December. HECM activity slipped from 4,654 loans endorsed for $1.1 billion. In the final month of 2010, FHA endorsed 6,554 HECMs for $1.7 billion.
HECM applications sank 19 percent, pointing to even lower volume ahead.
Section 203(k) endorsements declined to 1,978 from the previous month’s 2,148.
FHA insured 1,618 manufactured housing loans in December, slipping from 1,644 a month earlier.
Endorsements for loans secured by condominiums climbed to 3,188 last month from November’s 2,937.
During all of 2011, FHAÂ endorsements totaled 1,143,660 loans for $206.3 billion. The prior year, FHAÂ insured 1,624,836 mortgages for $302.3 billion.
Since its fiscal-year 2012 started on Oct. 1, 2011, FHA endorsements totaled 269,984 loans for $47.9 billion. By the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30, FHA expects endorsements will reach 1.4 million loans for $248.6 billion.
FHA’s mortgage insurance-in-force rose to 7,414,979 loans outstanding for $1.0369 trillion from the prior month’s 7,376,641 mortgages for $1.0304 trillion.
The FHA portfolio has grown from 6,812,689 loans outstanding for $0.9342 trillion as of Dec. 31, 2010.
Residential delinquency of at least 90 days on FHA-insured loans was up for the sixth consecutive month to 9.6 percent as of Dec. 31, 2011. The rate increased from 9.3 percent in November and 8.8 percent at the end of 2010.
The rate of serious delinquency has not improved a single time since April 2011, when the 90-day rate fell to 8.2 percent from 8.3 percent in March.
