President Bush said FHA-Secure will be launched. The program would help borrowers who have good credit but have become delinquent on their mortgage as a result of an increase to their mortgage payments. It would also utilize risk based pricing. (more…)
July saw 171,186 mortgage insurance policies written, according to data released Friday from the Mortgage Insurance Companies of America. Volume fell from June, MICA reported. The trade group said primary insurance cures were 30,567 in July, rising from June. (more…)
Two executives from the National Association of Home
Builders held a teleconference on the “credit
crunch” on Tuesday. The one hour conference was hosted by Jerry Howard,
CEO of NAHB and David Seiders, Chief Economist.
When asked what impact tighter mortgage lending
standards had had on new home sales during the past month…
The OFHEO House Price Index (HPI) usually doesn’t get
too much attention (except here where we regard it as the best, or at
least the most interesting of the periodic housing indicators) but this
time around people began anticipating it days before it was actually
issued and there was speculation that it would be the harbinger of really
bad news to come.
The Index, however, did not show a nationwide drop in housing prices
as had been expected, just the smallest increase in many years.