After delaying reporting by two months, the Federal Housing Administration finally released monthly operational numbers — and they weren’t good. One bright spot, however, was a doubling of monthly reverse mortgage applications.
FHA reported that it endorsed 86,330 mortgages in September 2013 for $14.930 billion.
New business tumbled from a month earlier, when 103,749 loans were insured for $18.115 billion.
In the same month in 2012, endorsements totaled 109,293 loans for $20.0 billion
The most recent month included 81,314 single-family loans for $13.790 billion, 4,517 home-equity conversion mortgages for $1.130 billion, and 499 Title I loans for $0.010 billion.
Refinance share fell to 31.8 percent from 34.7 percent in August.
During the fiscal year ended Sept. 30, 2013, FHA endorsed 1,344,856 loans, including 59,918 HECMs.
Business improved from fiscal-year 2012, when 1,239,874 loans were endorsed, including 54,830 HECMs.
On a calendar-year basis, FHA endorsed 991,714 home loans during the first nine months of 2013. The total included 47,907 HECMs.
New business was poised to decline further in October, with new applications dropping to 99,451 in September from 105,491 a month earlier. The decline was more severe on refinances than purchase financing.
However, the HECMÂ portion of new applications, 16,006, nearly doubled from 8,167 HECM applications received in August.
As of the end of September, there were 8,470,292 FHA loans outstanding for $1.2439 trillion.
Insurance in force rose from a revised 8,468,981 mortgages for $1.2440 trillion a month earlier and 7,710,746 loans for $1.0833 trillion a year earlier.
Outstandings as of Sept. 30, 2013, included 7,810,422 single-family loans for $1.0974 trillion, 618,082 HECMs for $0.1455 trillion, and 41,788 Title I loans for $0.0010 trillion.
Delinquency of at least 30 days, including foreclosures and bankruptcies, worsened to 14.49 percent during the latest month from a downwardly revised 14.27 percent in the prior report. The rate was better, however, than 16.74 percent in the year-earlier report.
The rate of serious delinquency, which reflects loans past due at least 90 days, climbed to 8.04 percent from 7.98 percent but improved from 9.58 percent as of Sept. 30, 2012.
The foreclosure rate slipped 2 basis points from August to 2.40 percent. At the same point in the prior year, the foreclosure rate was 2.97 percent.
