NCSHA Blogs
FHA Extends Short Refinance Program Through 2016
Last week, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) released a Mortgagee Letter announcing that it has extended the Refinance of Borrowers in Negative Equity Positions (Short Refinance) program until the end of 2016. The Short Refinance program allows borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their properties are currently worth to refinance into more affordable FHA loans. It was initially set to expire at the end of this year.
Moody’s Finds HFAs’ Financial Outlook Stable
Moody's Investors Service (Moody's) released a report earlier this week predicting continued stability for HFAs for the next 12 to 18 months. The report says this prediction is based on Moody's' expectations for the business, financial, and economic circumstances in the HFA sector.
Judge Rejects HUD’s Disparate Impact Rule
On November 3, US District Court Judge Richard Leon filed an opinion vacating HUD’s final rule on Implementation of the Fair Housing Act’s Discriminatory Effects Standard, commonly referred to as the Disparate Impact Rule. The rule had codified HUD’s interpretation of the Fair Housing Act, which held that practices with discriminatory effects violate the Fair Housing Act, regardless of whether or not those practices intentionally discriminated against protected classes.
Standard and Poor’s Report Finds HFAs Financially Stable
In a report released earlier this month, Standard and Poor's Rating Service (S&P) found that HFAs' financial ratios remained stable in fiscal year (FY) 2013 after two consecutive years of improvement. As a result, S&P notes that it has made no adjustments to HFAs' issuer credit ratings since October 2013. Of the 24 state HFAs that S&P rates, 20 of them have an "AA-" rating or higher.
IRS Publishes Housing Credit and Bond Caps for 2015
On October 30, IRS published Revenue Procedure 2014-61, establishing inflation-adjustments for various tax provisions and setting the Housing Credit and Private Activity Bonds volume caps for 2015. For calendar year 2015, the state Housing Credit ceiling will be the greater of $2.30 multiplied by the state’s population or $2,680,000. While the multiplier remained at the
HUD Reports Further Decline in Homelessness
On October 30 HUD reported in its 2014 Annual Homelessness Report to Congress: Part 1 (AHAR), a continued overall decline in homelessness. The report, utilizing Point-in-Time (PIT) counts from 414 Continuums of Care (CoCs) nationwide, found that on a single night in January 2014, 578,424 people were homeless, a 10 percent decrease from January 2010
Standard and Poor’s: HFA Single-Family Delinquencies Continue to Decline
A report released earlier this week by Standard and Poor's Rating Services (S&P) finds that State HFA single-family whole loan delinquencies declined again in the second quarter of 2014 to their lowest level since the third quarter of 2009. The report, which examined 32 HFA single-family whole loan bond programs (and the program run by the California Department of Veterans Affairs), predicts that state HFA loan performance will continue to perform strongly enough so as to not risk a ratings downgrade for any HFAs.
Moody’s Comment Finds HFAs’ Single-Family Performance Continuing to Improve
State HFAs' single-family portfolio performance continued to improve in the second quarter of 2014, Moody's reported in a recently released special comment. The comment says HFA loan delinquencies declined more than 4 percent in the last year. Moody's predicts that this improvement will continue and will reduce HFAs' loan losses moving forward.
Regulators Release Modified Proposed Flood Insurance Guidelines
Earlier today, five federal agencies released a proposed rule that would amend several regulations pertaining to flood insurance requirements for borrowers living in homes in special flood hazard areas. Specifically, the proposal would require federally regulated lenders to escrow premiums and fess for borrowers’ flood insurance for all residential loans that are originated or refinanced as of 2016. In addition, borrowers in special flood hazard areas would not have to purchase flood insurance coverage for structures that are on a residential property but are not attached to the home.
