Tag Archives: Freddie Mac

In a survey of more than 2,000 American adults, 61 percent of renters said they don't plan to purchase a house at any point in the next three years, Freddie Mac said Monday. When asked why they expect to keep renting for the near future, half of respondents said they can't afford to make a down payment for a mortgage, while 38 percent said they can't afford a monthly mortgage payment.

By lowering the down payment down to 3 percent, leaders from the GSEs and the Federal Housing Finance Administration (FHFA) hope to increase homeownership and particularly household formation by offering loans to those who can afford mortgages but lack resources to make a 20 percent down payment plus closing costs.

In a report released Monday, the Collingwood Group said that 65 percent of lenders and other mortgage industry workers support the push for GSE reform, calling their current state of conservatorship under the Federal Housing Finance Agency unsustainable. At the same time, none of the survey respondents called for a wind-down or elimination of the GSEs.

Months after the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) first unveiled a rule establishing eligibility requirements for private insurers, the agency informed some of the nation's top firms it doesn't plan to release a finalized rule until close to the end of Q1 2015 or later, according to an announcement from U.S. Mortgage Insurers (USMI).

The average interest rate for a 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 3.89 percent for the week ending December 4, Freddie Mac reported Thursday in its Primary Mortgage Market Survey. According to the company, it was the lowest average 30-year rate recorded since the end of May last year.

Together, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported 389,284 refinances throughout the third quarter, according to their conservator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). The figure compares to a total of 344,507 in the second quarter. As refinance volumes rose, the share of refinances completed through the government's Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP) fell further.

Freddie Mac released last week its latest Multi-Indicator Market Index (MiMi), revealing a 0.5 percent uptick in September to a reading of 74.4 after months of slight declines. The most recent improvement puts the index a few points short of the lower threshold for a market considered to be in "stable" territory.

FHFA reported Tuesday that U.S. house prices, based on home sales price information from mortgages sold to, or guaranteed by, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, rose 0.9 percent in the third quarter. While that does show a continuation of the growth the U.S. market has enjoyed for the past three years, the rate of growth is down from 4.5 percent compared to the third quarter of 2013.

According to Freddie Mac's monthly volume summary, released Tuesday, the mortgage giant's total loan portfolio grew last month at an annualized rate of 2.5 percent, the highest growth rate since March 2013.

In an release, FHFA announced that the maximum limit for mortgages acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will stay at $417,000 for single-unit properties in most of the country, with a maximum of $625,500 for certain high-cost areas. Forty-six counties will see an increase based on their own local conditions.