Tag Archives: Freddie Mac

William A. Ackman, head of Pershing Square, and Bruce Berkowitz, head of Fairholme Capital, have both added to their respective stakes in the two GSEs. In the last week of September, Judge Royce Lambert threw out lawsuits filed by Fairholme and Perry Capital against the government claiming that the sweeping of GSE profits into Treasury was illegal. The judge ruled the sweeping of the profits was legal under the Housing and Economic Recovery Act.

Hedge fund Perry Capital has appealed a judge's decision to dismiss a lawsuit filed last year over the sweeping of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's profits into the Treasury. The investors believe that the diversion of GSE profits created a "windfall" for the government while short changing GSE shareholders.

In its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Freddie Mac reported the average 30-year fixed interest rate came to 4.12 percent (0.5 point) for the week ending October 9, down from 4.19 percent. A year ago, the average 30-year fixed interest rate was 4.23 percent, the same as it was when rates jumped up in mid-September.

After posting a slight increase in July, Freddie Mac's mortgage portfolio declined at an annualized rate of 0.4 percent over the month of August, according to the GSE's latest monthly volume summary. Year-to-date, the portfolio's annualized growth rate has averaged -1.6 percent, bolstered by declines near or higher than 2 percent in each of the first five months of the year.

In its Primary Mortgage Market Survey for the week ending October 2, Freddie Mac reported a minor pullback in the 30-year fixed interest rate to an average 4.19 percent (0.4 point) from last week's 4.20 percent. The average 30-year fixed was also little changed from last year's average rate of 4.22 percent.

Judge Royce Lambert dismissed lawsuits filed in 2013 by investors at Fairholme Funds, led by Bruce Berkowitz, and Perry Capital with regards to the government's "sweeping" of GSE profits into the U.S. Treasury. The investors believed that the diversion of GSE profits created a "windfall" for the government while short changing GSE shareholders.

AEI's National Mortgage Risk Index measured 11.3 percent last month, little changed from July's index, the group said. As a stress test, the index measures the percentage of loans that would be at risk of turning sour in the event of an economic downturn. Though the index has come down in recent months, it remains nearly twice the acceptable level "conducive to a stable market," AEI said.

Freddie Mac's Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi) fell back nearly half a percentage point to 73.4 in its latest reading, the company reported earlier this week. According to the company, the decline "appear[ed] to be broad-based, and not concentrated in a handful of state or metro markets." As of the latest reading, Freddie Mac says the index is up 22.7 percent from its all-time low in 2011.

After jumping up last week, mortgage rates were weighed down in the latest measure by mixed housing developments. Freddie Mac released Thursday the results of its Primary mortgage Market Survey, showing the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage (FRM) easing to an average interest rate of 4.20 percent (0.5 point) for the week ending September 25. The 30-year FRM averaged 4.23 percent in the previous week's survey, a four-month high.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) monthly House Price Index picked up 0.1 percent from June to July, coming down after a revised 0.3 percent increase in June. For the 12 months ending in July, FHFA reported house prices were up 4.4 percent. As of the latest index, the national HPI is now 6.4 percent below its peak in April 2007 and is roughly in line with its July 2005 level.