Government-insured mortgage originations were down again and look to be headed even lower — though reverse mortgage activity is poised for an uptick. Delinquency on government loans was lower.
During August, the Federal Housing Administration endorsed a total of 103,749 residential loans for $18.115 billion, according to monthly operational data.
Business — which has been down for at least three months in a row — dropped off from the previous month, when a revised 112,245 loans were insured for $20.196 billion.
Government originations tumbled from the same month last year, when FHA endorsements totaled 126,051 loans for $23.1 billion.
Included in August’s activity were 97,713 single-family endorsements for $16.764 billion, declining from the previous month’s 105,955 loans for $18.725 billion.
Refinances accounted for 34.7 percent of single-family business, down for at least the fourth straight month from 37.2 percent in July.
Since starting its fiscal-year 2013 on Oct. 1, 2012, FHA has endorsed 1,263,539 single-family loans. During the first eight months of 2013, single-family endorsements totaled 910,400 loans.
New single-family business appears headed even lower based on new applications, which dropped to 97,300 in August from the prior month’s 108,196.
Home-equity conversion mortgage endorsements represented 5,370 of the latest activity, down from 5,736 in July. Fiscal year-to-date 2013 HECM volume totaled 55,364, while calendar year-to-date 2013 HECM endorsements amounted to 43,387.
Government reverse mortgage production is set to increase based on new HECM applications, which rose for the second consecutive month to 8,165 from July’s 7,397.
As of Aug. 31, FHA’s book of business was 8,468,626 loans for $1.2440 trillion.
Outstandings grew from 8,459,638 loans for $1.2422 trillion a month earlier and 7,691,776 loans for $1.0805 trillion a year earlier.
The most recent number included 7,810,207 single-family loans for $1.0977 trillion, 617,019 HECM s for $0.1452 trillion and 41,400 Title IÂ loans for $0.0010 trillion.
Including loans in foreclosure and bankruptcy, delinquency of at least 30 days fell to 14.33 percent from 14.40 percent as of July 31. It was the second consecutive month of improvement
The past-due rate also improved from Aug. 31, 2012, when 30-day delinquency was 15.82 percent.
The 90-day delinquency rate fell to 7.98 percent from 8.17 percent and was 9.46 percent one year earlier.
