Borrowers with less-than-stellar credit should shop around for these more aggressive lenders
Potential homebuyers looking for lower MI costs for FHA loans in 2022 are likely to again be disappointed, even as the capital strength of the FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund (MMIF) rose to a level last seen before 2006. FHA is mandated to have a minimum reserve of 2% against losses; for the 2021 fiscal year, the reserve was 8.03%, more than four times the required amount.
Despite the greatly improved solvency of the MMIF, there are no plans to lower upfront or annual MIP costs or allow for the termination of mortgage insurance. The sectors of the MMIF that back FHA forward mortgages and especially HECMs are performing better than they have in years; however, the COVID-19 breakout last year saw a sizable share of FHA-backed mortgages moved into mortgage payment forbearance programs, and these do present some risk of loss for the FHA insurance pool. With still-difficult conditions in some sections of the housing market likely to continue for at least a while yet, HUD will remain prudent about lowering costs, even if this is to the chagrin of homebuyers and homeowners.
Although the cost of an FHA-backed mortgage probably won’t fall in 2022, access to funding may continue to improve as lenders slowly to reduce or remove so-called “overlays”, where an individual lender will require a higher credit score than the minimums that the FHA requires.
Add lower down payment and credit requirements to the mix, and the fact that these federally-insured loans are assumable and don’t use risk-based pricing to set rates, and FHA mortgages are an attractive option to many borrowers. Read more