Quotes below. Read the full article here: Despite Strong MMIF, FHA Holds Off Lowering Premiums
Meg Burns, executive vice president of the Housing Policy Council, said the nonprofit was pleased with HUD’s cautious approach to changes in premiums. Because FHA is the product of choice in a market when conditions are declining, Burns said FHA needs to be “much more careful in those times,” so it can bolster the overall lending market in times of crisis.
Further, noting that the pandemic hurt some FHA borrowers’ ability to make loan payments, Burns said FHA will take some losses, despite loan modifications. Still, she supports a closer look at the life-of-loan policy….
Burns noted that the HECM program can be troublesome for FHA because it is so easily impacted by housing depreciation. “The loan balance is growing over time,” she said, “and it’s not being paid down.”