Tag Archives: Freddie Mac

The Johnson-Crapo housing finance reform bill, which would phase out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in favor of a more limited federal insurer, has passed through the Senate Banking Committee. While the bill always had enough support in the committee to make it to the Senate floor, whether or not it goes any further is the real question.

Now that Director Mel Watt's administration is in full swing, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has released its new strategic plan for the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In its outline, FHFA focused on three tenets going forward for the GSEs: maintain foreclosure prevention activities, reduce taxpayer risk, and build a new, single-family securitization infrastructure.

After staying quiet for months following his swearing-in as head of the agency, Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Mel Watt took the stage at the Brookings Institution this week to outline his own plans for the GSEs. Like FHFA's original Strategic Plan for Enterprise Conservatorships, the newly unveiled plan is built on three blocks: maintain, reduce, and build. However, Watt's revised plan suggests a shift in focus toward broadening credit access.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its Quarterly Performance Report for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, recording continued improvements as the enterprises see more post-crash business. The Federal Home Loan Bank system had positive earnings as well, noting $2.5 billion of earnings in 2013.

In a recent audit of the Federal Housing Finance Agency's practices commissioned by the agency's inspector general, CohnReznick found that FHFA has "opportunities to further strengthen its oversight of the Enterprises' monitoring of the financial condition of mortgage insurers and their related risk exposure."

Releasing their earnings reports simultaneously, Fannie and Freddie reported first-quarter profits of $5.3 billion and $4.0 billion, respectively—a major step back from incomes reported last year but still a fair amount for what was a slow period for the housing market. Both enterprises have reported profits each quarter for more than two years straight.

Per a settlement announced with the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), First Horizon National Corporation has agreed to pay a combined $110 million to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to resolve alleged violations of securities laws connected to private-label securities purchased by the GSEs from 2005–2007. The settlement is the 14th of its kind, bringing the agency closer to closing the book on 18 suits filed in 2011.

In its weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey, Freddie Mac recorded the average 30-year fixed rate at 4.29 percent (0.7 point) for the week ending May 1, down from 4.33 percent. Freddie Mac’s chief economist, Frank Nothaft, pinned the declines on disappointing numbers for gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter. According to an advance estimate, the economy expanded at a rate of 0.1 percent last quarter, well short of market forecasts.

In a release issued this week, Freddie Mac announced it has opened up its “full menu” of relief policies for homeowners whose homes were damaged or destroyed by late April storms that swept across parts of the South and the Great Plains.

According to Freddie Mac's latest report, 39 percent of refinancers last quarter chose to shorten their term, up slightly over the prior quarter and the highest share since 1992. Meanwhile, the share of borrowers extracting home equity stayed relatively low. Together, the two stats suggest borrowers are seeking to strengthen their own equity positions as home values continue to rise, the company says.