FHA's Insured Single-Family Mortgages Rise 8% in Month

The Federal Housing Administration insured $27.3 billion in single-family mortgages in April — up 8% from the previous month due to higher mortgage purchase volume. Mortgage purchase volume rose $1.6 billion to $11.7 billion, while refinancings crept up by $350 million to $15.6 billion, according to an FHA monthly activity report. Lenders One Mortgage Cooperative reported that FHA-insured mortgages comprised 40% of its members' loan production in the first quarter. A national cooperative of 135 mortgage lenders originated $17.3 billion single-family loans in the first quarter, up from $9.2 billion in the previous quarter. Meanwhile, FHA servicers ramped up their loss mitigation efforts and completed 7,366 loan modifications in April, up from 4,837 in March. But this didn't stop a 24 basis point increase in the FHA seriously delinquent rate in April and the percentage of FHA loans 90 days or more past due hit 7.32%.