News hit today that within the first hour of his presidency, Donald Trump has put a freeze on the pending reduction to mortgage insurance premiums that was scheduled to take effect on January 27th.
The departing secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, Julian Castro, had prepared the reduction as a parting gift to homeowners. However, there was existing speculation that this would be set back by Trump as soon as he took office. The Mortgage Bankers Association stated, “…we believe there is a strong chance that the most recent MIP reduction… may be one of the rollback actions taken soon after President Trump takes office.
This freeze will allow for Trump’s HUD Secretary Nominee, Ben Carson, to have a chance to meet with the FHA and review Castro’s policy. It looks like the freeze may not necessarily be an outright denial of the reduction, but a way to buy time for the new administration to review a last minute policy from the outgoing administration. Let’s hope they find it to their liking.