HOUSING FINANCE

Mortgage Interest Rates

Mortgage interest rates increased between 7 and 33 basis points from the previous quarter. The contract mortgage interest rate for 30-year, fixed-rate, conventional mortgages reported by Freddie Mac was 7.21 percent in the second quarter of 1999, 33 basis points higher than the previous quarter and 11 basis points higher than the second quarter of 1998. Adjustable-rate mortgages in the first quarter were going for 5.74 percent, 7 basis points above the previous quarter and 6 basis points above the second quarter of 1998. Fixed-rate, 15-year mortgages, at 6.82 percent, were up 30 basis points during the second quarter and 8 basis points above the same quarter in 1998. The FHA rate increased 16 basis points during the second quarter of this year but was 9 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 419,900 (not seasonally adjusted) properties in the second quarter of 1999, up 5 percent from the previous quarter and up 10 percent from the second quarter of 1998. Total endorsements or insurance policies issued were 341,800, up 3 percent from the first quarter of 1999. Endorsements for refinancing were 95,200, down 22 percent from the first quarter but up from 74,900, or 27 percent, from the second 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 382,500 policies or certificates of insurance on conventional mortgage loans during the second quarter of 1999, down 2 percent from the first quarter but up 4 percent from the second quarter of 1998; these numbers are not seasonally adjusted. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reported the issuance of mortgage loan guaranties for 131,700 single-family properties in the second quarter of 1999, down 10 percent from the previous quarter but up 39 percent from the second 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 4.13 percent at the end of 1999's first quarter, down 3 percent from the fourth quarter of 1998 and down 7 percent from the first quarter of 1998. Ninety-day delinquencies were at 0.61 percent. They were up 2 percent from the fourth quarter of 1998 but were unchanged from the first quarter of 1998. During the first quarter of 1999, 0.33 percent of loans entered foreclosures, down 11 percent from the previous quarter and down 6 percent from the first quarter of 1998.

Source: National Delinquency Survey, Mortgage Bankers Association