FHA Loans Set Record

The Federal Housing Administration guaranteed 186,000 mortgages in June, a record number in its 75-year history.

FHA loans are popular because they are one of the few sources of low-down-payment mortgages. In the last year, they have accounted for about 46 percent of all mortgage applications.

Along with increasing numbers of FHA activity comes a rising number of delinquent loans, with the level of FHA mortgages in some stage of foreclosure reaching 7.4 percent in May.