ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Friday, June 7, 1996                   TAG: 9606070079
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL   PAGE: A-3  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON

FHA CUTS CLOSING COST ON HOUSES

The Federal Housing Administration will trim the mortgage insurance premium it charges first-time homebuyers by a quarter of a percentage point, saving consumers roughly $200 in closing costs, officials said Thursday.

The switch, which will affect as many as 100,000 first-time homebuyers, will cost the FHA about $20 million a year, officials said. But the government-owned mortgage insurer, a unit of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, has a capital surplus because of the healthy housing market nationwide.

The announcement was made by President Clinton in an elaborate White House ceremony.

- Associated Press

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