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HOUSING FINANCE
 Mortgage
Interest Rates
Mortgage interest rates decreased between 60 and 126 basis points on the fixed-rate mortgages from the previous quarter. The contract mortgage interest rate for 30-year, fixed-rate, conventional mortgages reported by Freddie Mac was 7.01 percent in the first quarter of 2001, 60 basis points lower than the previous quarter and 125 basis points lower than the first quarter of 2000. Adjustable-rate mortgages in the first quarter were going for 6.48 percent, 69 basis points below the previous quarter and 20 basis points below the first quarter of 2000. Fixed-rate, 15-year mortgages, at 6.60 percent, were down 69 basis points during the first quarter and 126 basis points below the same quarter in 2000.
*Mortgage loan interest rate data on FHA-insured loans are no longer collected by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Sources: Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation;
Office of Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development |
 FHA 1–4
Family Mortgage Insurance*
Applications for FHA mortgage insurance on 1–4 family homes were received for 449,200 (not seasonally adjusted) properties in the first quarter of 2001, up 70 percent from the previous quarter and up 62 percent from the first quarter of 2000. Total endorsements or insurance policies issued totaled 239,600, up 4 percent from the fourth quarter of 2000. Purchase endorsements were 186,800, down 12 percent from the fourth quarter of 2000 and down 4 percent from the first quarter of 2000. Endorsements for refinancings increased to 52,800, or 196 percent, from the previous quarter and increased 164 percent from the first quarter a year ago.
*Units in thousands of properties.
Source: Office of Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development
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 PMI and
VA Activity*
Private mortgage insurers issued 358,500 policies or certificates of insurance on conventional mortgage loans during the first quarter of 2001, up 10 percent from the fourth quarter and up 46 percent from the first quarter of 2000; these numbers are not seasonally adjusted. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reported the issuance of mortgage loan guaranties for 49,600 single-family properties in the first quarter of 2000, up 2 percent from the previous quarter and up 5 percent from the first quarter of 2000.
*Units in thousands of properties.
Sources: PMI-Mortgage Insurance Companies of America; VA-Department
of Veterans Affairs |
 Delinquencies
and Foreclosures
Total delinquencies were at 4.54 percent at the end of 2000's fourth quarter, up 12 percent from the third quarter of 2000 and up 16 percent from the fourth quarter of 1999. Ninety-day delinquencies were at 0.62 percent, up 11 percent from the third quarter of 2000 and up 11 percent from the same quarter a year ago. During the fourth quarter of 2000, 0.29 percent of loans entered foreclosures, down 6 percent from the third quarter of 2000 and down 6 percent from the fourth quarter of the previous year.
Source: National Delinquency Survey, Mortgage
Bankers Association |
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