Fence-Sitting Homebuyers Face FHA Fee Hike Deadline by Atlantic Int’l Partnership Funding Group

Applications for FHA mortgages totaled 103,991 in January compared to 112,500 in December and 126,043 a year earlier.  The year-over-year figure reflects a drop of 17.5 percent.  There were 55,417 applications for mortgages to purchase homes and 41,178 to refinance.  This was a 3.4 percent decrease in purchase applications since December and a 21.6 percent change from January 2010.  Applications to refinance were down 12.1 percent quarter-to-quarter and 16.9 percent over the longer period.

FHA endorsed 119,521 mortgages in January compared to 133,603 in December and 158,612 in January 2010.  January numbers are lower by 10.5 percent and 24.6 percent respectively.  Purchase mortgages totaled 63,887 compared to 66,165 (-3.4 percent) and 90,030 (-29 percent) in the earlier periods.  47,429 (74.2 percent) of the purchase mortgages went to first time buyers compared to 48,539 (73.4 percent) and 90,030 (56.8 percent) in December and in January 2010.