HOUSING FINANCE

Mortgage Interest Rates

Mortgage interest rates increased between 9 and 20 basis points from the previous quarter. The contract mortgage interest rate for 30-year, fixed-rate, conventional mortgages reported by Freddie Mac was 6.88 percent in the first quarter of 1999, 11 basis points higher than the previous quarter but 17 basis points lower than the first quarter of 1998. Adjustable-rate mortgages in the first quarter were going for 5.67 percent, 18 basis points above the previous quarter and 6 basis points above the first quarter of 1998. Fixed-rate, 15-year mortgages, at 6.51 percent, were up 9 basis points during the first quarter but 14 basis points below the same quarter in 1998. The FHA rate increased 20 basis points during the first quarter of this year but was 26 basis points below the same quarter in 1998.

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 399,500 (not seasonally adjusted) properties in the first quarter of 1999, down 6 percent from the previous quarter but up 5 percent from the first quarter of 1998. Total endorsements or insurance policies issued totaled 331,200, up 14 percent from the fourth quarter of 1998. Endorsements for refinancing were 122,900, up 32 percent from the fourth quarter and up from 60,400 or 104 percent from the first quarter of 1998.

*Units in thousands of properties. Source: Office of Housing, Department of Housing and Urban Development

PMI and VA Activity*

Private mortgage insurers issued 390,500 policies or certificates of insurance on conventional mortgage loans during the first quarter of 1999, down 10 percent from the fourth quarter of 1998 but up 42 percent from the first quarter of 1998; these numbers are not seasonally adjusted. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reported the issuance of mortgage loan guaranties for 146,200 single-family properties in the first quarter of 1999, up 39 percent from the previous quarter and up 77 percent from the first quarter of 1998.

*Units in thousands of properties. Sources: PMI-Mortgage Insurance Companies of America; VA-Department of Veterans Affairs

Delinquencies and Foreclosures

Total delinquencies were at 4.24 percent at the end of 1999's first quarter, down 3 percent from the fourth quarter of 1998 but with no change from the first quarter of 1998. Ninety-day delinquencies were at 0.60 percent, down 3 percent from both the fourth quarter of 1998 and the first quarter of 1998. During the first quarter of 1999, 0.37 percent of loans entered foreclosures, up 3 percent from the previous quarter, but there was no change from the first quarter of 1998.

Source: National Delinquency Survey, Mortgage Bankers Association