The president issued new directives through executive order seeking to lower the costs of single-family homeownership and mortgages. The order directs the Federal Housing Finance Agency director to reduce homeowners’ refinancing costs by expanding FHFA’s existing title insurance waiver pilot into a permanent program. The director also is directed to consider waiving appraisals, income re-verification, and other documentation requirements for limited cash-out refinances as well as reducing or eliminating loan-level price adjustments.
The EO orders FHFA to create a pilot program to proactively cancel borrowers’ mortgage insurance premiums once they have satisfied their equity requirements based on the current market value, according to a White House statement.
The FHFA pilot program will only apply to mortgages made after its establishment, according to the executive order. It will periodically review single-family mortgage loans owned, guaranteed or securitized by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration by using automated valuation models and other available data to assess current market value, then identify borrowers who appear to satisfy equity and other requirements for cancellation of mortgage insurance.
In addition, the order establishes the Task Force on Manufactured Housing Innovation and directs the secretaries of Agriculture and Veterans Affairs to reduce interest rates on single-family home loans made by their respective departments.
