The government's Making Home Affordable (MHA) program was launched by the Obama Administration in February 2009 as a way to stabilize the housing market and help struggling homeowners avoid foreclosure.
Read More »Mortgage Rates Remain Under 4 Percent Threshold
Freddie Mac recently released the results of its Primary Mortgage Market Survey (PMMS), finding that average fixed mortgage rates continue to drop as economic uncertainty pushed Treasury yields lower.
Read More »Freddie Mac’s Q2 Net Income Increases Ninefold
Freddie Mac's net income soared for the second quarter of 2015, totaling $4.2 billion—nearly nine times the GSE's Q1 net income of $524 million, according to an announcement from Freddie Mac on Tuesday.
Read More »Judge Rejects Proposed Delay for Fannie, Freddie Suits
Judge Margaret Sweeney denied the government's attempt to stay court proceedings in the case, gaining a victory for Fairholme Funds and its CEO, Bruce Berkowitz, who sued the government in 2013 over the sweeping of GSE profits into the U.S. Department of Treasury.
Read More »Fannie Mae CEO Warns of Reform Risks
Speaking as a guest presenter at the Rotary Club of Atlanta on Monday, Fannie Mae President and CEO Timothy Mayopoulos warned against any type of reform where housing finance is concerned, telling the audience that "the (current) system works," according to a report.
Read More »Community Lending Group Criticizes Government Sweep of GSE Profits
In a recent letter addressed to Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Mel Watt, director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), the Community Mortgage Lenders of America (CMLA) urged the government to "take immediate action to cure the under-capitalization" of the GSEs by re-amending the payment terms established when they were forced to take a bailout after the crash.
Read More »Judge Dismisses Investor Lawsuits Over GSE Profits
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.
Read More »Deputy Treasury Secretary: Student Debt Not ‘Inherently Bad’ for Housing
Speaking at the 56th annual meeting of the National Association for Business Economics (NABE) on Monday, Treasury Deputy Secretary Sarah Bloom Raskin said she does not see the nation's growing problem of student loan debt leading to an economic meltdown—and student loan debt may not be affecting a borrower's ability to buy a home, depending on that borrower's financial situation.
Read More »Fannie, Freddie Investors File Another Suit Against U.S.
Investors have filed another lawsuit against the U.S. government, alleging that common stockholders in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been shortchanged. Three individual common shareholders along with Pershing Square Capital Management alleged in their complaint that the diverting of GSE profits into Treasury equates to taking private property for public use without "just compensation," a practice forbidden by the Fifth Amendment.
Read More »Fannie, Freddie to Pay $5.6B on Second-Quarter Profits
The U.S. government is set to see another $5.6 billion from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as both GSEs continue to post solid earnings. Both companies released on Thursday their earnings reports for the second quarter, reporting subdued profits compared to recent quarters as settlement earnings and other previous one-time benefits subside.
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