Fannie Mae-No Politics (FNMA)

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With FHA rate cut off, Trump's policy for housing blurry

The Department of Housing and Urban Development cited the need for further analysis to protect taxpayers in halting the policy that would have saved FHA borrowers as much as $1,000 or more a year.

But the move by the FHA's parent agency, which overturned a decision the Obama administration had made on its way out the door, could signal something else: a new conservative bent to the nation's housing policy.

Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, which tracks the residential mortgage market, noted that past administrations have tweaked the premium rate as they sought to either draw more people into the program or drive them away.

"Over the years probably half the changes in the program have been political," he said.

And there could be more ahead. Trump's nominee for HUD secretary, Ben Carson, during his confirmation hearing a week before the inauguration, signaled in an exchange with a Republican senator that he might be open to some housing policy changes.

"Taxpayers are on the hook for $1.2 trillion worth of mortgages," said Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., referring to the total volume of FHA-backed home loans. "All the while there is a private industry in the business of insuring mortgages."

http://www.nwaonline.com/news/2017/feb/17/with-fha-rate-cut-off-trump-s-policy-fo/