Lakeshore Analytics

U.S. should abandon the fiction of Fannie/Freddie dividends

Fannie Mae, one of the two housing agencies under federal government conservatorship, made a $73 million profit in the fourth quarter of 2010. There’s just one problem with that, according to the Wall Street Journal (“Fannie and Freddie Caught in Viscious Dividend Cycle”, March 1): Fannie Mae’s fourth-quarter income of $73 million, announced Thursday, was [...]

Mortgage rates up after long slide

Mortgage rates turned upward last quarter after an historic slide that brought Freddie Mac’s average 30-year fixed rate to 4.23%. Freddie Mac’s averages for the end of 2010: 4.71% for a 30-year fixed mortgage 4.10% for a 15-year fixed mortgage 2.75% fixed for the first five years of an adjustable rate mortgage However, Moody’s (“U.S. Chartbook: Still [...]