In 2024, FHA Supported Homeownership for More Than 790,000 Americans

Annual Report to Congress shows the Biden-Harris Administration has removed barriers to homeownership and helped borrowers with hardships while maintaining a well-capitalized Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund

WASHINGTON - Today, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) announced that through the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), in 2024, HUD served more than 790,000 people. This announcement is part of the release of the Annual Report to Congress Regarding the Financial Status of FHA’s Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund for fiscal year 2024. The report describes the work of the FHA Single Family mortgage insurance programs in fiscal year 2024 and the performance of the FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund (MMI Fund) which supports that work.

In fiscal year 2024, HUD expanded on its work over the last three years under the Biden-Harris Administration to remove barriers to homeownership and fulfill its role in providing sustainable and affordable access to mortgage credit, despite a market that remained constrained by higher interest rates and low housing supply. In fiscal year 2024, FHA facilitated access to mortgage credit for more than 793,000 homebuyers and homeowners, including more than 26,000 seniors who obtained a Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) during the fiscal year. In addition, FHA continued to provide a highly effective set of tools to help borrowers still recovering from effects of the pandemic, being affected by natural disasters, or facing other financial hardships to remain in their homes.

“Under the Biden-Harris Administration, we have expanded access to homeownership,” said HUD Agency Head Adrianne Todman. “Despite high housing costs and a challenging market, we made historic reforms to help hundreds of thousands of Americans buy and keep a home.”

The annual report shows that FHA maintains a very strong, well-capitalized insurance fund. As of September 30, 2024, the MMI Fund’s capital ratio was 11.47 percent, a 0.96 percentage point increase from fiscal year 2023. This represents an increase in total capital in the MMI Fund of $27.5 billion, from $145 billion in fiscal year 2023 to $172.8 billion in fiscal year 2024. Additionally, FHA’s serious delinquency rate, the percentage of mortgages in its portfolio that are 90 or more days delinquent, was 4.15 percent as of September 30, 2024, consistent with rates prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The exceptional team of public servants at FHA and throughout this Administration continued to deliver a world-class mortgage program to support the nation’s homebuyers in fiscal year 2024,” said Federal Housing Commissioner Julia Gordon. “Through our work, we have demonstrated that FHA can facilitate homeownership and wealth-building opportunities for hundreds of thousands of households and provide support for homeowners facing hardships while maintaining a financially sound Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund.”

The report highlights FHA’s important role in serving populations not adequately served by the private mortgage market. More than 82 percent of FHA purchase mortgage insurance endorsements in fiscal year 2024 went to first-time homebuyers. As in past years, the share of FHA’s total endorsements that went to borrowers of color significantly exceeded that of other market participants. According to the most recent data available from calendar year 2023, the percentage of FHA’s volume of mortgages made to Black borrowers, 16.7 percent, was almost two and a half times the rate of the rest of the market, and for Hispanic borrowers, at 22.85 percent, it was almost double that rate. Finally, according to calendar year 2023 data, close to half of all rural homebuyers obtained mortgages insured by FHA.

Key Findings: FHA’s Impact in 2024

• Mortgage Availability: FHA insured a total of 766,942 forward mortgages during fiscal year 2024. In the last four fiscal years under the Biden-Harris Administration, FHA has helped facilitate mortgage financing or refinancing for more than 3.9 million individuals and families through its forward mortgage insurance programs.
• Senior Support: Many seniors benefited from FHA-insured financing, with 26,501 obtaining FHA-insured Home Equity Conversion Mortgages (HECMs) in fiscal year 2024. More than 173,000 seniors were able to age in place with the help of the HECM program during the last four fiscal years.
• First-Time Homebuyers: 82.64 percent of FHA-insured forward purchase transactions by loan count, or 498,363 mortgages, went to first-time homebuyers in fiscal year 2024. Over the past four years, approximately 2.3 million borrowers with FHA-insured home purchase mortgages were first-time homebuyers. This is eight out of every 10 FHA borrowers.
• Diversity in Borrowers: In fiscal year 2024, 31.66 percent of FHA-insured forward mortgages, or 242,796 mortgages, were made to borrowers who self-identified as borrowers of color. This is an increase of 18,500 mortgages by count and an increase of 1.03 percentage points by share of forward mortgages from FY 2023. Notably, 16.77 percent, or 128,601 mortgages, were for Hispanic borrowers and 12.08 percent, or 92,622 mortgages, were for Black borrowers. In the past four years under the Biden-Harris Administration, FHA has served more than 1.2 million borrowers who self-identified as borrowers of color.
• Helping Homeowners Facing Hardships: Approximately 332,000 homeowners with FHA-insured mortgages requested and received for the first time an FHA forbearance – a temporary pause or reduction in their mortgage payment – in fiscal year 2024. FHA helped more than 592,000 borrowers this past fiscal year to stay in their homes through FHA home retention solutions. This is in addition to the 2.7 million forbearances granted and 1.7 million home retention solutions offered since 2020.
• Delinquency Rate: As of September 30, 2024, FHA’s serious delinquency rate – those mortgages where the borrower is 90 or more days behind on their mortgage payment – remained consistent with pre-pandemic levels at 4.15 percent. This is an increase of less than one percentage point from the rate’s historical low of 3.52 percent in May 2024, but down 7.75 percentage points from its high of 11.90 percent in November 2020.
• Capital Ratio: The MMI Fund showed very strong performance in fiscal year 2024, with an overall capital ratio of 11.47 percent as of September 30, 2024, an increase of 0.96 percentage points from fiscal year-end 2023. The stand-alone capital ratio of the forward mortgage portfolio stood at 10.88 percent. The FHA Home Equity Conversion Mortgage (HECM) portfolio stand-alone capital ratio stood at 24.50 percent.
• MMI Fund Capital: The MMI Fund now holds $173 billion in MMI Capital, a $27.5 billion increase from fiscal year 2023. FHA’s Insurance in Force grew to $1.5 trillion by the end of fiscal year 2024, representing a $123.8 billion increase from the previous fiscal year.
• Portfolio Size: FHA’s insured portfolio contained approximately 7.81 million single family forward mortgages and 287,000 HECMs at the end of fiscal year 2024, emphasizing FHA’s substantial role in the housing market.

In addition to the report, the fiscal year 2024 actuarial reviews of the forward and Home Equity Conversion Mortgage portfolios are now available.