Tag Archives: GSEs

According to Urban Institute, the FHA has more power to increase credit access. The GSEs do risk-based pricing through their loan-level pricing adjustments. However, the FHA does not do risk-based pricing, and so it has insured borrowers and so it has insured borrowers with less-than-pristine credit. Charging the same fee for those with good credit as those with bad credit has limited credit availability.

One of the world’s top rating agencies warned that sweeping or high-level changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could unleash a host of unintended consequences.

Privatizing the GSEs could potentially have an adverse effect on the mortgage market in the United States, according to Kroll Bond Ratings Agency.

From working in the private sector to serving in top government positions, FHFA’s Sandra Thompson offers her take on the progress of women and minorities in the industry. This select print feature originally appeared in the December 2016 issue of MReport magazine.

In its annual report to Congress, released Wednesday, the Federal Housing Finance Administration published the results of Dodd-Frank stress tests. The verdict? Federal Home Loan Banks came through sparkling. The GSEs, not so much.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are set to release its first quarter earnings statement this week, and after rough weeks of earnings so far, many in the industry are fearing the worst concerning the profitability of GSE. Is yet another taxpayer-funded bailout upon us?

A diminishing private-label securitizations market among strong government-backed loans presents credit implications for the mortgage market. Director of the Housing Finance Policy Center at the Urban Institute Laurie Goodman highlights in a blog the importance of consumers knowing how the disappearance of the private-label securitizations market affects their access to credit.

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) put out a “flash release” of its National Mortgage Risk Index (NMRI), a measure of the likelihood of purchase loan defaults under stressful economic conditions. According to the group, the index climbed last month to 11.89, indicating nearly 12 percent of loans would be at risk of default in the event of another downturn. That figure is up from a reading of 11.5 percent in March and represents a series high for the index.

A recently unveiled plan to phase out Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and overhaul the secondary mortgage market may have hit another snag, with six key senators reportedly deciding not to give their support. According to Bloomberg, six members of the Senate Banking Committee—all Democrats—have cited concerns that plans in the Johnson-Crapo proposal for finance reform "seemed unworkable."

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.