Executive Perspectives Blog
Remember last year when the 15-year fixed-rate mortgage rate was an unbelievable bargain at just over 2.5 percent, the lowest in recorded history and about three-quarters of a percentage point below a 30-year fixed-rate loan? So everyone buying a house was getting a 15-year loan, right? Nope. Thirty-year fixed-rate mortgages dominated – accounting for more than 85 percent of the home-purchase loan market in 2012.
When it comes to mortgage credit risk, many policymakers today are searching for ways to shield the federal government from all risks short of a major economic catastrophe. They want to build a future system where private capital bears the risk of most residential mortgages, and have a federal backstop only in cases of emergency.
Where does a borrower turn if they’re having trouble refinancing their mortgage? What about a member of the armed services looking to modify their loan because of an upcoming station transfer? Or a homeowner struggling to pay their mortgage in the aftermath of a natural disaster?
Yesterday, Freddie Mac announced second quarter net income of $5 billion, marking our seventh consecutive quarter of net income profitability and the second-largest quarterly net income in our company's history. Clearly, our outstanding financial results are benefitting from the turnaround in housing, as well as the improvements we continue to make in our business.
There’s been a lot of talk in recent months about the payment of billions of dollars to the Treasury by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae (the GSEs). That’s understandable. Freddie Mac's seven straight profitable quarters show a remarkable reversal of fortune. And this reversal is one key reason people are wondering when the GSEs might go “net positive” with the taxpayers.
