American Enterprise Institute (AEI) housing expert Edward Pinto assess the key facts to explain the Federal Housing Administration’s (FHA) deteriorating situation.

The National Association of Realtors (NAR), which pushed Congress to give FHA yet more responsibilities, is now trying to show that the agency is not really insolvent. But the slippery "facts" they are using show how tenuous their argument is.

FHA Watch, a new monthly online publication, will focus on the government’s 100 percent taxpayer-backed Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage guarantee program and the risks it poses for taxpayers, families, and communities. 

The federal government has taken over large swaths of consumer lending, most notably the $10 trillion home mortgage and $1 trillion student lending markets. The government's share of new loans for each now approaches 100%.Government monopolies in financial services pose risks to taxpayers as well as borrowers

No serious observer of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) believes its financial future is bright. But few recognize just how troubled this government agency really is.

FHA Watch, now in its second issue, focuses on the government’s taxpayer-backed Federal Housing Administration (FHA) mortgage guarantee program, the risks it poses for taxpayers, families and communities, and the opportunities for reform that lead to sustainable homeownership and a fiscally sound FHA Mutual Mortgage Insurance Fund.

Comparing the American housing finance system to other countries makes clear that one thing remarkable and indeed unique in the world about American housing finance was the dominant and disproportionate role played by government-sponsored enterprises

A regulatory response to problems in mortgage servicing must fix problems in the industry but avoid poorly conceived actions that would crimp American families' access to mortgage financing and threaten the still-weak housing recovery and the broader economy.