FHA Loans Set New Record

The Federal Housing Administration guaranteed 186,000 mortgages in June, a record number in its 75-year history.

FHA loans are popular because they are one of the few sources of low downpayment mortgages.

In the last year, they have accounted for about 46 percent of all mortgage applications.Along with increasing numbers of FHA activity comes a rising number of delinquent loans, with the level of FHA mortgages in some stage of foreclosure reaching 7.4 percent in May.

Source: The Wall Street Journal, Nick Timiraos (07/20/2009)