FHA
Applications Post Record Numbers in December
As we’re finally getting
reports in for the month of December 2008, the numbers for
the first two weeks look quite promising. For December
1st to 15th, FHA applications reached a high of
136,685 - a jump of 77.7 percent over the previous period.
As for their annual pace, December’s performance was able
to push the FHA past the 4 million mark for
applications.
During this period, 76,401 mortgages were insured by FHA, with purchases and refinances accounting for 43,200 and 28,107 respectively. Unfortunately, no Hope For Homeowners mortgages were insured.
Low
Mortgage Interest Rates Spark FHA Refinance
Sector
Of the FHA loan applications,
45,945 applied for purchase loans while 82,494 applied to
refinance their existing loans. Although more purchase
loans were insured by the FHA, the sheer number of
refinance applications showed the public’s desire for
record low mortgage rates. For those currently considering
an FHA refinance cash-out, 32.2 percent of all refinances
were cash out transactions in the first two weeks of
December.
In addition, 77 percent of the FHA purchase transactions resulted from first time home buyers. Of these 33,275 first time home buyers, 31.8 percent were from minority families.
As stagnant homes and over supplied inventory continues to be a problem around the nation, it’s good to see that many first time home buyers are still able to rely on FHA. While stricter lending guidelines have some homeowners sitting on the sidelines, these numbers show that it is still quite possible to finance a home in this market.
As a reminder, some of the benefits of an FHA purchase loan is the relatively low down payment of 3.5 percent and competitively priced interest rate. As typical conventional loans may require upwards of 5 to 10 percent down, FHA has become quite the popular option for many buyers. For more information regarding an FHA purchase loan, be sure to check out our FHA Lender Directory.
