FHA mortgage applications rose dramatically in March to a total of 246,406 compared to 165,239 in February, an increase of 68 percent.

Over two-thirds of the applications, 163,467, were for the purpose of purchasing a home while 75,541 were requests for refinancing. 7,398 were applications for Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) or reverse mortgages.

The figures were contained in the monthly FHA Outlook released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development April 21, 2010. The report revised the annualized application rate upward from 2.01 million in the last report to 2.38 million based on the March figures.

The rise in applications was believed to reflect the upcoming expiration of the $8,000 tax credit for first time buyers and $6,500 credit available to “move-up” homebuyers. A sales contract must be in place by the end of April and the entire sale finalized by June 30 for homebuyers to qualify for the credit. The surge in applications, especially during the last week of the month, may also reflect a race to obtain a mortgage before the increase in the FHA up-front premium which took effect on April 5. See FHA is getting tougher! What’s The BUZZZ?

In March the average processing time for all mortgages from application to endorsement was 11.1 weeks and 88 percent were accepted and endorsed using the FHA scorecard (TOTAL). The weighted average FICO score for FHA mortgages in March was 697.

Delinquencies in FHA loans declined slightly in March from 553,929 to 536,858. The delinquency rate was down from 9.2 percent in February to 8.8 percent at the end of March.

Remember there are still plenty of Tax Opportunities for California buyers in 2010. Use my Purchase Assistant to see how much you qualify for.

Thank you for reading this I hope it informed you!
Garrick
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