Fitch Report: State Housing Finance Agencies Increase Offerings in Loan Products & Programs.NEW YORK New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of -- Fitch Ratings Fitch Ratings An international rating agency for financial institutions, insurance companies, and corporate, sovereign, and municipal debt. Fitch Ratings has headquarters in New York and London and is wholly owned by FIMALAC of Paris. has released a report that surveys the new loan products offered by the State Housing Finance Agencies (SHFAs, or the agencies) for first-time homebuyers First-Time Homebuyer An IRA owner who is exempt from the early-distribution penalty (which applies to IRA distributions that occur before the IRA owner reaches age 59.5) for distributing funds from his or her IRA to buy, build, or rebuild a home when having had no interest in a . The report also discusses some of the programs offered by the agencies to supplement the new loan products. The SHFAs' new loan products grew out of the competitive mortgage environment of the past two fiscal years. Starting in fiscal 2005, with the gradual rise in mortgage rates in the conventional market, the agencies began to see a renewed demand for their product, however, the new loan products remain a part of the agencies' portfolios. Approximately 24% of the agencies surveyed offer either or both of the two main new products, the 40-year amortizing fixed-rate mortgage (FRM FRM From FRM Form FRM Fixed-Rate Mortgage FRM Financial Risk Manager (GARP) FRM Fondation pour la Recherche Médicale FRM Financial Resource Management FRM Final Rulemaking FRM Fiber-Reinforced Metal FRM Federal Reference Methods ) and the fixed-rate interest-only (IO) loan. Although the performance history on these new loan types is limited, Fitch views the 40-year FRM as having slightly higher risks, and the IO loan as having slightly to moderately higher risks (depending on the loan term) than the SHFA SHFA Sydney Harbour Foreshore Authority (Australia) 30-year FRM option. This comparison assumes the same borrower profile. The risks are detailed in the report, and are somewhat dependent on the conditions of the real estate and mortgage market at the time the borrower tries to either refinance or sell the property. If not through loan products, most of the agencies provide other new alternatives for the first-time homebuyer. The agencies have developed innovative ways to provide tax credits, offer involuntary unemployment insurance, target specific geographic areas and sectors of the population, offer home improvement funding, and provide hurricane relief to their borrowers. Through homebuyer home·buy·er n. One who is in the process of buying a home. education classes, as well as marketing tactics, SHFAs are able to communicate to borrowers the information about the new loan product and program options. For a copy of the Fitch report, 'State Housing Finance Agencies Face Changing Mortgage Market' dated August 15, 2006, visit the Fitch Ratings web site at www.fitchratings.com. Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use Terms of Use are rules set up by the owner of an intellectual property or service to govern how they may be legally used. In many cases, terms of service are used as a contractual agreement between a company and users of a service they provide. of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures Policies and Procedures are a set of documents that describe an organization's policies for operation and the procedures necessary to fulfill the policies. They are often initiated because of some external requirement, such as environmental compliance or other governmental are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site. |
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