Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are sitting on nearly $20 billion of potential writedowns on their mortgage-securities holdings that would severely undermine their already delicate financial condition, but federal regulators say the government-sponsored...
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2007 was a huge year for MBS production at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, setting the stage for what looks like an even bigger 2008, but neither government-sponsored enterprise was especially aggressive in buying new mortgage securities for their... [Includes two charts]
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Federal regulators this week approved an interim policy that could help banks and thrifts explore covered bond issuance as an alternative to traditional mortgage securitization. Although covered bonds backed by mortgage loans are a well-developed market...
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The “conforming jumbo” programs recently implemented by the FHA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac offer MBS investors a way to minimize losses as home prices decline. But the programs are barely getting off the ground and their future beyond the end of 2008 is up...
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Democrats in Congress appear intent on pushing an ambitious slate of new legislation to fix what’s wrong in the mortgage and MBS market, but Wall Street says many of the proposals won’t work or will make problems worse. Lawmakers in both the House and Senate convened...
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Despite opposition from the Bush administration, Democrats in Congress appear intent on passing legislation to leverage the FHA to help borrowers with underwater mortgages – but any such program may ultimately depend on the willingness of investors to go...
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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are facing increasing demand for liquidity in a historically weak market at a time when their own bottom lines are under intense pressure, moving them into uncharted waters, according to a new report this week from Standard & Poor’s...
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