Tag Archives: Fannie Mae

Fannie Mae's book of business shrank for the second consecutive month in July as its gross mortgage portfolio continued to decline.

The results are out for Fannie Mae's program that recognizes top performing servicers. For the first half of the year, the GSE recognized Green Tree Servicing, Nationstar Mortgage, Ocwen Financial Corporation, PHH Mortgage Corporation, PNC Financial Services Group, Seterus, and Wells Fargo for their performance and customer service. For the first time, the 2013 midyear results also included key metrics to measure servicer performance and foreclosure prevention efforts.

The NAACP, in light of the government's recent regulatory focus on Wall Street, applauded President Obama, enthusiastically supporting his refusal to endorse the Corker-Warner legislation, a bill that would remove the institutions of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and replace the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) with yet another government backstop, both of which they see as posing a direct threat to the middle-class and minorities' financial well-being and ability to own or finance homes.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have both updated their seller guides to incorporate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's Ability to Repay rule under the Truth in Lending Act.

After trudging along throughout the first half of the year, economic growth is gaining momentum as expected, according to an Economic and Housing Outlook from Fannie Mae's Economic & Strategic Research (ESR) group. Looking ahead, the group expects GDP growth will average 2.0 percent for the year, accelerating to 2.6 percent in 2014 as fiscal drags peel away and the housing recovery continues--though the expected tapering of the Federal Reserve's asset purchases may lead to volatility, chief economist Doug Duncan warned.

While new housing production is expected to see a healthy rebound later this decade, Fannie Mae's Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) group believes "an anticipated slowdown in workforce expansion suggests more modest prospects for new housing demand and construction than witnessed historically." Using the Census Bureau's new projections for population growth over the coming years, Fannie Mae's team says labor force growth could range from as high as 0.9 percent (under optimistic conditions) to as low as 0.4 percent

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) put out a release asking for public input on strategies for scaling back the GSEs' presence in the multifamily housing finance market in 2014.

"GSE reform," according to White House propaganda, will end "an era of housing bubble and taxpayer bailouts." Obama's about the bubbles and bailouts, but wrong to blame Fannie and Freddie.

Fannie Mae's second-quarter profits nearly doubled year-over-year, the GSE reported. The company reported Thursday net income of $10.1 billion in Q2 2013 compared to $5.1 billion for Q2 2012.

Following a speech Tuesday night in Phoenix, in which President Barack Obama discussed his ideas for housing finance reform, the president today took questions from American citizens during a live discussion hosted by Zillow CEO Spencer Rascoff. During the question and answer session Wednesday, Obama reiterated his stated goals to bring a gradual end to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, to bring private capital into the housing market, and to offer affordable housing options--both rental options and 30-year mortgages.