The number of reverse mortgage applications increased 8.1% to 9,686 in August according to the latest report from the Federal Housing Administration.
While down 12.4% from the same period last year, the application totals for August are the highest since September 2009.
The run up in applications before the end of FHA’s fiscal year is normal and is likely to increase as reverse mortgage borrowers rush to complete the process before the Department of Housing and Urban Development lowers the principal limit factors in October.
The total amount of FHA applications for the month was 200,907 with a significant rise in prior FHA refinance cases. This included 86,569 purchase transactions, 104,652 refinance cases and 9,686 reverse mortgage cases. Included in the refinance count were 55,103 prior FHA’s (46.9% over last month), and 49,549 conventional conversions. In addition, 39 H4H cases were included in the refinance total.
There were also 6,645 HECM’s insured in August and 6,175 were the traditional reverse mortgage type.
As of the end of August, FHA has 558,316 mortgages in a serious delinquency category, yielding a seriously default rate of 8.5 percent. This includes all mortgages in bankruptcy, in foreclosure and 90 days or more delinquencies.
So far this fiscal year 270,964 claims have been paid. The bulk of these were for loss mitigation retention (164,744) and property conveyance (87,807).
