HUD To Reduce Annual Mortgage Insurance Premium For New Borrowers

The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will reduce its annual mortgage insurance premium by 0.30 percentage points, from 0.85 percent to 0.55 percent for most new borrowers.

This was announced by Vice President Kamala Harris and Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Marcia Fudge in Bowie, Maryland, Wednesday.

This decision is estimated to save homebuyers and homeowners with new FHA-insured mortgages an average of $800 per year, lowering housing costs for an estimated 850,000 homebuyers and homeowners in 2023.

The mortgage insurance premium is the monthly fee that homeowners with FHA-insured mortgages pay to insure their mortgages, which they pay on top of their monthly principal and interest payments.

The premium reduction will take effect on March 20, and will be reflected in the President’s FY 2024 Budget.

Homeownership is currently the principal source of wealth creation for most American households. But due to a nationwide shortfall in the supply of affordable homes and shifting demand for housing during the pandemic, first-time homebuyers have struggled in recent years to achieve homeownership. First-generation homebuyers and first-time homebuyers of color – who are less likely to have sufficient resources for a sizeable down payment due to a longstanding gap in intergenerational wealth transfers – have been particularly affected.

The Biden administration’s announcement is an important step in making homeownership more attainable, according to the White House. FHA-insured mortgages, which accounted for 7.5 percent of home sales in the third quarter of 2022, are targeted at homebuyers who otherwise may not be able to achieve homeownership. This cost-lowering measure will make buying a home more attainable and affordable for more low- and middle-income borrowers.

FHA insures loans with a small down payment and more flexible underwriting, enabling families to begin building wealth through homeownership earlier than they otherwise might and providing an open door to credit-worthy borrowers. More than 80 percent of FHA borrowers are first-time homebuyers, and more than 25 percent are homebuyers of color. The average home purchased with FHA-insured mortgages cost around half the price of the overall national median home and have an average mortgage amount of less than $270,000.

The White House said that by lowering its annual mortgage insurance premium by 0.30 percentage points, FHA’s action will help new homebuyers all over the country achieve homeownership. For example, the average homebuyer in Prince George’s County will save nearly $900 per year, based on the average home price in the county of around $300,000.

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