HUD: FHA to Require Second Appraisal for Certain Reverse Mortgages
New policy designed to reduce ‘appraisal inflation’ WASHINGTON – The Federal Housing Administration (FHA) today announced that it will begin requiring lenders originating new Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs), commonly referred to as reverse mortgages, to provide a second property appraisal under certain circumstances. FHA is instructing lenders to provide a second independent property appraisal…
HUD: Department and U.S. Virgin Islands Sign $243 Million Disaster Recovery Grant Agreement
Action paves the path to repair housing, businesses and infrastructure WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Deputy Secretary Pamela Hughes Patenaude and the U.S. Virgin Island’s Governor Kenneth Mapp today announced the formal execution of a $243 million grant agreement to help citizens in the U.S. Virgin Islands to recover from…
FHFA: Index Shows Mortgage Rates Increased in August 2018
Nationally, interest rates on conventional purchase-money mortgages increased from July to August, according to several indices of new mortgage contracts. The National Average Contract Mortgage Rate for the Purchase of Previously Occupied Homes by Combined Lenders Index was 4.63 percent for loans closed in late August, up 3 basis points from 4.60 percent in July….
HUD and Census Bureau: New Residential Sales Report for August 2018
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and the U.S. Census Bureau jointly announced the following new residential sales statistics for August 2018: New Home Sales Sales of new single-family houses in August 2018 were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 629,000. This is 3.5 percent (±13.7 percent)* above the revised July…
FHFA: Foreclosure Preventions Near 4.2 Million in FHFA’s Second Quarter 2018 Report
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today released its second quarter 2018 Foreclosure Prevention Report,which shows that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) completed 70,945 foreclosure prevention actions in the second quarter of 2018, bringing the total number of foreclosure prevention actions to 4,179,581 since September 2008. The report also shows that 25 percent…
FHA: House Price Index Up 0.2 Percent in July 2018
U.S. house prices rose in July, up 0.2 percent from the previous month, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) seasonally adjusted monthly House Price Index (HPI). The previously reported 0.2 percent increase in June was revised upward to 0.3 percent. The FHFA monthly HPI is calculated using home sales price information from mortgages…
HUD: $1.5 Billion Disaster Recovery Grant Agreement for Puerto Rico Signed
Action paves the path to repair housing, businesses and infrastructure WASHINGTON – U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson and Puerto Rico’s Governor Ricardo Rosselló today announced the formal execution of a $1.5 billion grant agreement to help citizens in Puerto Rico to recover from Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The signing…
HUD: $8 Million Awarded to Public Housing Authorities for Emergency and Security Improvements
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) today awarded $8 million in grant funding to eight public housing authorities to keep residents safe and secure. The funding announced today is offered through the following HUD programs: HUD’s Capital Fund Emergency Safety and Security Program, which supports security and emergency alarm system improvements to…
HUD: Rental Assistance Demonstration Reaches 100,000 Units of Affordable Public Housing Milestone
Secretary Ben Carson attends groundbreaking ceremony in Austin, TX U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Ben Carson today announced that 100,000 units of affordable public housing have been preserved through the Department’s Rental Assistance Demonstration (RAD), an innovative approach to confronting the dwindling and aging supply of public housing. In a groundbreaking ceremony today…
FEMA: Ten Additional North Carolina Counties Designated for Individual Assistance from Hurricane Florence
Homeowners, renters and business owners in Bladen, Columbus, Cumberland, Duplin, Harnett, Lenoir, Jones, Robeson, Sampson and Wayne counties may now apply for federal disaster assistance for uninsured and underinsured damages and losses resulting from Hurricane Florence. Beaufort, Brunswick, Carteret, Craven, New Hanover, Onslow, Pamlico and Pender counties were designated for Individual Assistance on Sept. 14,…