May 2016 H OUSING N EWS R EPORT
FINANCIAL BRIEFS
Freddie Mac Posts Q1 Loss Mortgage giant Freddie Mac on May 3, 2016, posted a loss for the second time in three quarters, shining a light on the government-controlled company’s diminishing capital reserves, according to Freddie Mac . Freddie won’t make a dividend payment to the Treasury Department after declining interest rates triggered a $354 million first quarter net loss for the mortgage finance giant. It posted a loss of $475 million in the third quarter of 2015. In 2008, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, the two federally chartered but privately owned “government-sponsored agencies” (GSEs), were bailed out by taxpayers to the tune of $187.5 billion in September 2008, and they were put into a so- called conservatorship under government control, which was supposed to be temporary. The government’s original rescue terms were for Fannie and Freddie to pay a dividend of 10 percent to the Treasury Department, amounting to $4.7 billion quarterly. Then, in 2012, the government changed the terms and now receives 100 percent of the GSEs profits.
New Home Sales Fall in March New U.S. single family home sales fell for the third straight month in March, falling 1.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 511,000 units, reported the Commerce Department. That rate has steadily dropped from 521,000 in January and 519,000 in February.
New homes sales in March fell largely because of a double- digit decrease in sales in the West.
The median sales price of new houses sold in March 2016 was $288,000. The total number of new homes for sale in March was 246,000, the highest figure since September 2009.
SOURCE: Commerce Department
SOURCES: Freddie Mac
New Home Sales, NAR Existing Home Sales & Foreclosure Filings
10,000,000
400,000
Annualized Commerce Dept. New Home Sales
Annualized NAR Existing Home Sales
RealtyTrac Properties with Foreclosure Filings
9,000,000
350,000
8,000,000
300,000
7,000,000
250,000
6,000,000
200,000
5,000,000
4,000,000
150,000
3,000,000
100,000
2,000,000
50,000
1,000,000
0
0
SOURCES: RealtyTrac, S&P/Case-Shiller
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