Interest rates unchanged, appear flat but….
Current Price of FNMA 4.5% Bond
1. Mortgage Bonds are starting the day near unchanged
2. Existing Home Sales for February were reported at 5.02M in line with expectations.
3. Inventory numbers up- sales swelled to month level from the 7.8 month reading in January,
4. The highest inventory level since August's 2010 9.2
5. The government's First Time Home Buyer Tax Credit ends soon
6. The only fix for housing is a stronger labor market.
7. Hearings begin today on the potential reshaping of the mortgage market Will Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac survive?
Someone please tell me where Wall Street really exists?
Wall Street is not in New York it is an international problem.
The US is not Married to Fannie or Freddie
. Barney Frank sent fear through mortgage and banking world with implications that the US guarantee of Fannie (FNM) and Freddie (FRE) isn't as ongoing and committed as has been assumed. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is in the hot seat in front of the House of Representatives Financial Services
Committee today.
18 months ago $127Billion was given to Freddie and Fannie and they are still not making any money.
Mr. Geithner has no easy fix. Our bulky cumbersome and wasteful current system is all we have. If the US stops supporting Fannie Freddie and FHA, no one in America will be able to get a loan.
Republicans want the housing finance system privatized, but private capital/ pension funds/ foreign funds/ or some new investors (reinvent the old savings and loan concept) still are not buying. So who would be the primary source mortgage financing? Winding down Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over a 4 to 5 year period is a plan without any solution.
Today Fannie and Freddie, along with the FHA, back over 90% of all home loans. So how can they be run like real business?
Fannie Mae pulled cash out of foreign banks in past two days to appear to make moves to be independent.