Articles About Freddie Mac

Author:
James I. Clark III
Posted:
11.13.2012

QE3 A Boon to CMBS

If history repeats itself, QE3 will be good for commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS). The Fed’s third round of quantitative easing – which is purchasing $40 billion of residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS) each month from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – will free up money for the commercial real estate market and lure investors away from […]

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Author:
Mike Ochs
Posted:
05.29.2012

Existing-House Sales Spike in April

If you want to sell a product, price it correctly. That theory at long last appears to be working in the U.S. housing market.  The National Association of Realtors (NAR) reported that sales of existing homes rose 3.4 percent in April when compared with March.  One reason is that asking prices were remarkably affordable.  The […]

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Author:
Mike Ochs
Posted:
05.14.2012

House Prices At 2002 Levels

The S&P/Case-Shiller home price index of 20 cities revealed a 3.5 percent decline when compared with last year.  Home prices are now at their lowest levels since November 2002.  “Nine (housing markets) hit post-bubble lows,” said David Blitzer, spokesman for S&P, including Atlanta, Charlotte, Chicago, Las Vegas and New York.  “While there might be pieces […]

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Author:
Mike Ochs
Posted:
04.25.2012

March Housing Starts Down, While Construction Permits Rise

American homebuilders started construction on new houses in March at a slower pace, but in an ironic twist, the number of construction permits jumped to their highest level in 3 ½ years.  This is a positive signal for the slumping residential industry.  According to the Department of Commerce, housing starts fell 5.8 percent to an […]

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Author:
James I. Clark III
Posted:
04.04.2012

Treasury Makes $25 Billion in Successful MBS Sale

The Treasury Department just raked in a cool $25 billion for the American taxpayer. It sold the agency-backed mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that it bought during the financial crisis.  “The successful sale of these securities marks another important milestone in the wind-down of the government’s emergency financial crisis response efforts,” said Mary Miller, Treasury assistant secretary […]

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Author:
James I. Clark III
Posted:
03.21.2012

Fannie Mae Asks Uncle Sam For More Money

In an attempt to dig itself out of a deepening hole, Fannie Mae has requested $4.6 billion in additional federal aid. “We think that we have reserved for and recognized substantially all of the credit losses associated with the legacy book,” Chief Financial Officer Susan McFarland said.  “We’re very focused on returning to profitability so […]

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Author:
Mike Ochs
Posted:
03.12.2012

Pending Home Sales Rose Two Percent in January

The Pending Home Sales Index grew by two percent during January from the previous month to 97.0 — considerably above the 1.1 percent growth forecast by economists.  The index has risen eight percent when compared with one year ago.  Relaxed mortgage lending criteria, historically low interest rates and an improving labor market contributed to this […]

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Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
03.06.2012

Jafer Hasnain: The Housing Crisis: Where Do We Stand?

With home sales increasing in six of the last nine months and prices still 30 percent below the peak, the housing market is quite confounding.  That’s the opinion of Jafer Hasnain, Principal and co-founder of Lifeline Assets, a private equity firm that invests in single-family homes. In a recent interview for the Alter NOW Podcasts, […]

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Author:
Mike Ochs
Posted:
02.21.2012

As Foreclosures Decline, Federal Government Makes Deal With 49 States

In good news for beleaguered homeowners, the Obama administration announced a $26 billion mortgage settlement, which 49 out of 50 state attorneys general signed on to.  The deal won praise from such groups as the Mortgage Bankers Association, the industry trade group for lenders, and the Center for Responsible Lending, a public interest group advocating […]

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Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
01.24.2012

Government Wants to Sell Foreclosed Properties in Bulk as Rentals

The Obama administration plans to work closely with federal regulators, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to start a pilot program to sell government-owned foreclosures in bulk to investors as rentals, according to administration officials. There currently are approximately 250,000 foreclosed properties on the books of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), […]

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