Tag Archives: Freddie Mac

Freddie Mac forecasts a 5 percent increase in 2011 home sales over 2010, according to its U.S. Economic and Housing Market Outlook for April. The expected pick-up in home sales is due to recent positive employment reports, including gains in the real estate sector. The GSE's outlook also contends that refinancing will likely account for a smaller share of loan applications later this year as wealthy borrowers decrease and mortgage rates increase.

Virginia Governor Robert McDonnell recently signed legislation to restrict Wall Street home resale fees (also known as ""private transfer fees"") in the state. Virginia is the 24th state to ban the use of these fees. The fees require that a private third-party receive a percentage of the final sale price of a home every time the property is sold, typically for 99 years.

Interest rates on home loans headed higher this week, marking the fourth consecutive increase recorded. Still, rates remain extremely low by historical standards - a selling point market players hope will buoy activity as we move into the spring home buying season. Freddie Mac reports that rates on a 30-year mortgage are now averaging 4.91 percent, while the 15-year rate came in at 4.13 percent. Adjustable-rate mortgages are also slowly increasing.

A putative class action securities lawsuit filed against Freddie Mac in federal court in August 2008 has been dismissed, according to a statement from the GSE. Judge John Keenan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York granted Freddie Mac's motion to dismiss all claims brought by two pension funds alleging that the GSE misled shareholders about its exposure to risky mortgage loans.

A House subcommittee convened Tuesday to mark-up eight bills aimed at winding down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. While lawmakers agree that reform is needed, they were divided on just how to proceed with the medley of individual bills in front of them. Republicans' string of separate bills, which could ultimately tally 24, is a conscious effort to pull in Democratic support on individual reforms. But some are calling the multiple-bill approach for a single-end-goal ""scattered"" and ""without vision.""

The percentage of single-family mortgage loans counted as seriously delinquent has dropped back for both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. According to Fannie Mae's latest monthly status report, the GSE's seriously delinquent rate has declined to 4.45 percent. Freddie Mac's most recent report shows its seriously delinquent rate to have fallen to 3.78 percent. Both companies have posted steady declines for three consecutive months, and they've recently announced changes to their servicing guidelines that could impact the way delinquent loans are handled.

Sens. John McCain and Orrin Hatch have introduced legislation to permanently end government support for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The GSE Bailout Elimination and Taxpayer Protection Act, which is the Senate companion version of House legislation introduced in mid-March, seeks to accelerate the timeline for putting Fannie and Freddie on a path toward privatization. It would put an end to the two companies' conservatorship in two years.

In 2009 and 2010, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) approved salary packages totaling more than $35 million for executives at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The agency's Office of the Inspector General has released a report detailing the compensation levels of GSE execs for the past two years, noting that the CEOs of Fannie and Freddie together made $17 million during that period. The report points out that although the GSEs have lost billions of dollars and depend on federal support, their senior executives continue to receive multi-million dollar salaries.

Mortgage interest rates across the board edged higher this week, marking the second consecutive reporting period that they've increased. Data released by Freddie Mac Thursday shows that the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage rose 5 basis points in one week's time to 4.86 percent. The 15-year rate came in at 4.09 percent, and adjustable-rate mortgages also increased.

Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe has signed House Bill 1388, making Arkansas the 22nd state to ban the use of Wall Street home resale fees, also known as private transfer fees. Private transfer fees require that homebuyers pay a percentage of the final sale price of a home to a private third party every time the property is sold, typically for 99 years. Issuers of these fees attempt to sell the right to collect them on Wall Street.