HUD Will Ask for $400B to Fund GNMA/FHA Production

The Department of Housing and Urban Development will ask Congress for expanded commitment authority for Ginnie Mae and the Federal Housing Administration single-family program, allowing the government to insure up to $400 billion of new mortgages in fiscal 2010. HUD estimates that FHA will endorse $290 billion of single-family loans in FY 2009, which ends September 30. The government estimates that FHA loan production will continue at a torrid pace until private mortgage markets recover. "For FY 2010, we are asking Congress for the authority to endorse up to $400 billion of loans," HUD secretary Shaun Donovan told the National Association of Realtors at its mid-year legislative conference. The housing secretary stressed that FHA will be able to provide this level of support for the mortgage market without a congressional appropriation and without raising FHA mortgage insurance premiums or changing the premium structure. "FHA will continue to be a source of stable, reasonably priced safe financing in the marketplace." Mr. Donovan said.