I know when I started in 2000 there were alot more HUD homes, meaning an FHA loan had gone bad. Over the recent boom years, there were not many of them, since (this idea plays off of Vermont's) Conventional loans were so easy to get, why would anyone go FHA?
To answer your question, I imagine in the late 90s people were going fha. Want to find out for your area? Tweak your MLs and search old closings and look to financing category. Just a thought.
_________________________
Life's not fair.