Another new mortgage suite called Home Possible is designed to reach more eligible families by providing financing flexibility. Freddie Mac’s automated underwriting service, Loan Prospector, now extends the approval process to six months rather than four, so that home builders can put the finishing touches on a new construction home without risking the loss of a qualified buyer.
Robinson said that Freddie Mac’s Workforce Home Benefit Program stands to aid up to 175,000 families by providing greater access to expert home counseling and flexible mortgage products with low downpayment requirements.
Ken Bacon, senior vice president of multifamily lending and investment at Fannie Mae, says that in certain cases, borrowers can now receive a decision on a home loan within minutes through the organization’s Home Counselor Online, an application that assists counselors in aiding potential home buyers.
On the supply side, he said that Fannie Mae’s partnership with NAHB has led to the creation of an acquisition, development and construction finance product for builders that resulted in more than $200 million in loans in 2003. He added that the tally for last year was much higher, but that the final figure was not yet available.
Fannie Mae has also committed more than $80 million to date for local anti-predatory lending initiatives in cities across the country.
While the primary role of the Federal Home Loan Banks (FHLBs) is to provide loans to their member institutions primarily for housing finance purposes, Ray Christman, president and CEO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, said that in recent years the FHLBs have been supplementing their core business by buying mortgages rather than providing funding.
“We have had to innovate. We are a source of housing finance for retail depository institutions in this country. We provide a menu of options to our customers to allow them to adjust to the interest rate environment,” he said.
“People in the home building industry can play a more pro-active role to design the type of funding they need through the Federal Home Loan Banks,” added Christman.
The 12 Federal Home Loan Banks across the nation have a combined $900 billion in assets and more than $550 billion in loans to member institutions, he said.
Under U.S. law, 10% of the income of each of the Federal Home Loan Banks must be set aside annually for affordable housing.
“That grant money amounts to $250 million annually, making this the largest private source of affordable grant money in the U.S.,” said Christman.
The Economic Development and Growth Enhancement Program (EDGE), a selective, below-market advance program available only to financial institutions that are members of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Atlanta, will provide loans as low as zero percent to fund community and housing economic development projects, he added.
“Growth for all of the GSEs will occur based on demographic factors in the next 25 to 30 years. Housing and homeownership are a great tool to assimilate immigrants,” he said.
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