Visit our Filed page for categories. To browse by specific topic, see our Inside page. For a list of companies covered on this site, visit our Companies page.
Mortgage rates declined in the latest week, with the average rate on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages landing at 4.95 percent, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey.
Rates slumped through most of last year as yields on Treasurys declined amid economic uncertainty. But yields have been on the rise recently, pushing mortgage rates back up earlier this month to the highest level since last April. The rates track the yields, which move inversely to Treasury prices. Get the full story »
The Obama administration on Friday declared the public-private housing finance model in place for the past four decades was dead but pledged to continue backing exisiting obligations of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“The GSE model is dead,” an Obama administration official told reporters as the Treasury Department released a long-awaited report on options to revamp housing reform. Get the full story »
The Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee voted Tuesday to recommend Joseph A. Smith Jr. as the next director of the beleaguered housing finance agencies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The mortgage giants have received $151 billion from the federal government to keep them afloat, and President Barack Obama must tell Congress his plan for reorganizing the agencies next month. Smith would be in charge of carrying that out. Get the full story »
After falling to jaw-dropping lows, home mortgage rates rose this week for the third week in a row, according to a new report today.
The rates on 30-year, fixed rate home loans rose to an average 4.46 percent with 0.8 point this week, up from 4.40 percent a week ago, according to the weekly survey by mortgage giant Freddie Mac. The increase comes after the 30-year, fixed-rate loan fell to a record low of 4.17 percent in early November. Get the full story »
Rates on fixed mortgages edged up this week, inching further away from the lowest level in decades.
Freddie Mac said Wednesday the average rate for 30-year fixed loans rose to 4.40 percent from 4.39 percent last week. Two weeks ago, the rate hit 4.17 percent, the lowest on records dating to 1971. Get the full story »
Freddie Mac, the second-largest provider of funding for U.S. home mortgages, will raise some loan fees, a sign it sees greater risks even for borrowers making regular payments.
The company, struggling to recover from the worst housing slump since the 1930s, will raise some so-called “delivery fees” in March to cover increased risks on loans for large portions of a property’s value, according to a bulletin dated Monday on its Web site. Get the full story »
Borrowers betting that mortgage rates would fall even further lost out this week. The best rates may be behind them.
The average rate on a 30-year fixed mortgage rose to 4.39 percent from 4.17 percent, mortgage buyer Freddie Mac said Thursday. The latter’s the lowest level on records dating to 1971. Get the full story »
North Carolina Banking Commissioner Joseph A. Smith Jr. is being tapped by the White House to head the regulatory agency that oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency has been without a permanent director since August 2009. A new director would preside over the mortgage-finance titans just as an intense political battle begins over what should happen to the companies. Get the full story »
A sign offering a lot for sale is planted next to a sold home under construction in Nebraska. Rates on 30-year mortgages fell to a new low for the ninth time in 12 weeks. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
U.S. mortgages reached new record lows in the latest week as economic data raised the appeal of safe-haven government debt, according to a survey released on Thursday by Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. mortgage finance company.
While rock-bottom rates offer a glimmer of hope for a housing market struggling to find its footing in the aftermath of the expiration of a popular home buyer tax credits, their effect on home loan demand has been modest as a weak jobs market and flailing economy weigh on consumer confidence.
Interest rates on U.S. 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, the most widely used loan, averaged 4.27 percent for the week ended Oct. 7, down from the previous week’s 4.32 percent and the lowest on record, according to the survey Rates were also below their year-ago level of 4.87 percent. Freddie Mac started the survey in April 1971. Get the full story »
Government-controlled mortgage buyer Freddie Mac is asking for $1.8 billion in additional federal aid after posting a larger loss in the second quarter.
Freddie Mac said Monday it lost $6 billion, or $1.85 per share, in the April-to-June period. The company is required to pay a 10 percent annual dividend to the Treasury Department on money it has received from the government. That made up $1.3 billion of the company’s second-quarter losses. Get the full story »
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke believes lawmakers have multiple options when it comes to replacing troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
“There are a variety of organizational forms that might replace Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that could likely provide mortgage credit without the systemic risks associated with these institutions in the past,” Bernanke said in a set of written responses to Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D., Ohio) released Friday. Get the full story »
The Obama administration, in an effort to shore up the Federal Housing Administration’s finances, is set to increase the annual premium the agency charges borrowers for mortgage insurance.
Under a measure that cleared Congress this week, the FHA would get authority to raise the annual premium it charges borrowers to 1.55 percent from the current 0.55 percent. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill into law. Get the full story »
U.S. 30-year mortgage rates dropped to a record low in the past week, according to a survey released Thursday by Freddie Mac, as concerns mounted about the economic recovery.
Rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages, the most widely used loan, averaged 4.57 percent for the week ended July 8, down from the previous week’s 4.58 percent and 5.20 percent a year earlier, according to the survey, which started in April 1971. Get the full story »
From CNN | Troubled mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said goodbye to the New York Stock Exchange at the end of trade Wednesday. At the market open Thursday, Fannie and Freddie will start trading on the over-the-counter bulletin board — also known as pink sheets — under the symbols “FNMA” and “FMCC.” Get the full story »
Mortgage rates have sunk to the lowest level in more than five decades, but consumers aren’t rushing to refinance their loans or buy homes. Mortgage company Freddie Mac says the average rate for 30-year fixed loans sank to 4.58 percent this week.
That’s down from the previous record of 4.69 percent set last week and the lowest since Freddie Mac began tracking rates in 1971. Get the full story »
