Freddie Mac
By Carrie Bay | 02/02/2012
Average mortgage interest rates have reversed from the upward blip reported last week. Declines this week completely erased the previous week's increases, as the average rate attached to the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage, 15-year fixed-rate mortgage, and 5-year adjustable-rate mortgage all settled in at new record lows, Freddie Mac reported Thursday. The GSE attributed the about-face to the fact that recent data on economic growth fell short of market projections.
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By Carrie Bay | 02/01/2012
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Wednesday issued a notice to investors interested in buying government-owned REOs in bulk for use as rental properties, encouraging them to register with Fannie Mae in order to pre-qualify as an eligible bidder. FHFA says the first pilot transaction will be announced in the "near-term." During the pilot phase, Fannie Mae will sell off pools of various types of assets, including rental properties, vacant properties, and nonperforming loans, with a focus on the hardest-hit areas.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/31/2012
Was the nation's second largest mortgage company betting against mortgage refinancing? Allegations supporting the affirmative which were made public this week have prompted the U.S. Treasury to launch an official probe. Analysts say the story is less sensational than it appears and only highlights the conflict that comes with being neither fully public nor fully private. The GSE's main business is guaranteeing mortgage credit risk, but it needs to turn a profit to stay in this business, all the while being told its duty is to foster a housing recovery.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/27/2012
Changes announced Friday to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP) are expected to extend relief to a larger share of struggling homeowners as well as renters. One of the key adjustments centers around principal reductions. To encourage investors to agree to the principal reducing modification currently available through HAMP, Treasury is tripling incentives for such restructurings, paying from 18 to 63 cents on the dollar, and extending this same incentive to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who have previously opted not to participate in HAMP's principal writedown option.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/26/2012
Freddie Mac reported Thursday that mortgage interest rates have done a 180 and are now starting to climb, buoyed by positive housing data over recent weeks which show the market ended 2011 on a high note. The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 10 basis points in one week's time and is now averaging 3.98 percent, reversing its previous three-week trend of setting all-time record lows. Despite the jump, this marks the eighth consecutive week the 30-year fixed rate has remained below 4.00 percent.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/26/2012
Data released this week by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) show purchase prices of homes backing mortgages that have been sold to or guaranteed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac rose 1.0 percent between October and November. The agency's index has recorded sporadic ups and downs throughout the year. For the 12 months ending in November, the net effect is a decline in property values of 1.8 percent. FHFA says prices are now roughly the same as in February 2004.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/23/2012
The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) says as of June 30, 2011, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac held nearly 3 million first lien mortgages in which the borrower owed more on the loan that the home was worth. FHFA estimates principal forgiveness for all of these mortgages would require funding of almost $100 billion to pay down the loans to the value of the homes securing them. Members of Congress have questioned FHFA's reasoning for excluding principal forgiveness from the menu of loss mitigation tools available to the GSEs.
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By Krista Franks | 01/19/2012
Principal reductions - the merits of which have been debated strongly in recent years - are gaining support from lawmakers. Two congressmen are pushing to subpoena the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) for its analysis of the potential effects of principal reductions by the GSEs. Reps. Elijah Cummings of Maryland and John Tierney of Massachusetts sent a letter Wednesday to the chairman of the House Oversight Committee urging him to issue a subpoena after several failed attempts to procure the desired information from FHFA.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/19/2012
Credit conditions may be tight, but for those who do qualify for a new home loan, the cost of borrowing has never been lower. Data released Thursday by Freddie Mac shows the average rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage edged down to 3.88 percent this week to hit a new all-time low. The 30-year rate has come in below the 4.00 percent mark for seven consecutive weeks now. The 15-year rate edged up just one basis point from its record low to 3.17 percent.
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By Carrie Bay | 01/12/2012
With property values across the country at depressed levels and interest rates dancing around historical lows for months now, housing affordability has hit an all-time high. That affordability inched even higher this week, as mortgage interest rates broke through their previous record-lows to fall further still. Freddie Mac says all loan products covered in its regular weekly market survey eased to set new all-time lows for the week ending January 12. The 30-year fixed rate is now at 3.89 percent.
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