Washington Report

Advocacy Updates from Washington D.C.

FHA Annual Premium Reduction Finalized

On Jan. 8, 2015, at a speech in Phoenix, AZ attended by NAR President Chris Polychron, President Obama announced that the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) would reduce FHA annual mortgage insurance premiums (MIP) by 50 basis points.  This reduction is a victory for the National Association of REALTORS® whose members have called for lower fees on FHA loans since early 2014.  NAR raised concerns about the costly premiums to FHA Commissioner Galante in April 2014, and NAR has lead a  coordinated effort with other advocacy groups and members of Congress to achieve this victory.  NAR estimates that a 50 basis point reduction in the annual MIP from 1.35 percent to .85 percent would price-in an additional 1.6 million to 2.1 million renters, along with many trade-up buyers, resulting in 90,000 to 140,000 additional annual home purchases.

The premium reduction will be effective for case numbers assigned on or after Jan. 26, 2015. To allow borrowers already in the loan pipeline to take advantage of the lower rates, FHA will temporarily approve cancellation requests for active FHA Case Numbers within 30 days of the effective date of this ML.  Full details of the premium changes are published in Mortgagee Letter 2015-01.

NAR Press Release

FHA ML 2015-01

NAR Letter to FHA on premiums

Coalition Letter to FHA on premiums

Senate Letter to FHA on premiums

NAR Thank You Letter to FHA

NAR Economists Outlook Blog

Notice: The information on this page may not be current. The archive is a collection of content previously published on one or more NAR web properties. Archive pages are not updated and may no longer be accurate. Users must independently verify the accuracy and currency of the information found here. The National Association of REALTORS® disclaims all liability for any loss or injury resulting from the use of the information or data found on this page.

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