Recently FHA announced significant changes to strengthen its capital reserves, while enabling the agency to continue to fulfill its mission to provide access to homeownership for underserved communities. These changes are the latest in a series of efforts we have undertaken to better position FHA to manage its risk while continuing to support the nation's housing market recovery. These policy changes include: (1) Increasing the mortgage insurance premium (MIP) to build up capital reserves and bring back private lending; (2) Updating the combination of credit scores and down payment requirements for new borrowers; (3) Reducing allowable seller concessions; and (4) Increasing lender enforcement. For more information, please refer to the March message from the desk of the FHA Commissioner David H. Stevens here.
