June 15, 2015
The FHA/HUD official site has issued its housing scorecard for May 2015, and the numbers could help some borrowers decide whether the time is right to consider a cash-out or no-cash out refinance loan.
According to the official site, www.HUD.gov, “HUDs May Housing Scorecard details the recovery of our nations housing market. As we look back, we witnessed progress among key indicators, including a spike in new home sales, a high level of previously-owned home sales over the last two months, and gains in U.S. home values. While great progress is being made, we must continue to support programs that will allow more American families and homeowners to recover from the Great Recession.”
That might not sound terribly exciting to a borrower considering an FHA refinance loan, but the housing scorecard press release adds some information that some will consider a good sign, depending on the housing market.
“House prices rose again in March and year-over-year house price changes continue to stabilize. The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) seasonally adjusted purchase-only house price index for March showed home values rose 0.3 percent over the previous month and 5.2 percent over the previous year. The year-over-year house price gain in February was 5.3 percent. The FHFA index shows that U.S. home values are approximately on par with January 2006 prices and now stand just 2.6 percent below their previous peak in March 2007.”
Borrowers who live in neighborhoods where the price on for-sale homes is rising may find those rising prices help increase the value of their own property at appraisal time. Much depends on the individual housing market where you live, but in places where rising property values are occurring, your next appraisal may be helped out in the process.
And that is why some are considering an FHA refinance loan–the better your appraisal, the better position you are as a cash-out borrower. Any appraisal-required home loan refinance application could surely benefit from the rising property values, especially when those values are beginning to approach those before the Great Recession. Talk to a loan officer about your refinance loan options to see what’s possible with a cash-out, no-cash-out or even a Streamline FHA refinance loan.
Do you have questions about FHA home loans? Ask us in the comments section.
Joe Wallace has been specializing in military and personal finance topics since 1995. His work has appeared on Air Force Television News, The Pentagon Channel, ABC and a variety of print and online publications. He is a 13-year Air Force veteran and a member of the Air Force Public Affairs Alumni Association. He was Managing editor for www.valoans.com for (8) years and is currently the Associate Editor for FHANewsblog.com.
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