A look at stories across HousingWire’s weekend desk, with more coverage to come on bigger issues: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac reported first-quarter results last week. Since entering federal conservatorship in 2008, the mortgage giants have pulled $164.4 billion from the Treasury Department. Fannie narrowed its first-quarter loss to $8.7 billion, including a $2.2 billion dividend payment to the Treasury, from $13 billion a year earlier. Fannie blamed the loss on falling home prices and its regulator, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, requested another $8.5 billion from the Treasury to eliminate the company’s net worth deficit. Fannie owes the Treasury $99.7 billion and has repaid $12.4 billion in dividends. Freddie Mac swung to a first-quarter profit of $676 million from a loss of $6.6 billion one year ago and didn’t request a draw from the Treasury Department in the quarter. Freddie has received $64.7 billion from the government and repaid $11.6 billion in dividends back to the Treasury, including $1.6 billion in the first quarter. The CEOs of both Fannie and Freddie will be joining other mortgage industry executives in North Carolina this week at HousingWire’s REthink Symposium. The fate of the government-sponsored enterprises remains to be seen, and the political sparring over formation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau continues. House Republicans moved three bills out of subcommittees last week, as they call for a board to lead the new federal regulator rather than a single executive. The value of home equity held by borrowers over the age of 62 fell to $4.3 trillion at the end of 2010, according to the National Reverse Mortgage Lenders Association. The trade group and financial analytics firm RiskSpan track the reverse mortgage market by analyzing trends in the value of seniors’ homes and their home-equity levels. Based on RiskSpan’s analysis of FHFA and Census Bureau data, the aggregate value of senior housing fell by $15 billion in the fourth quarter to $4.3 trillion, while senior mortgage debt decreased $4 billion, resulting in an $11 billion reduction in the level of senior home equity. The level of senior home equity has fallen 18% from peak levels in the fourth quarter of 2006, compared to a 31% decline for all homeowners, according to the NRMLA. Increasing numbers of seniors and the lower mortgage debt they carry has partially offset lower equity levels of senior homeowners caused by declining home prices. “This data show us home equity is still an important component of total wealth for seniors,” said said Peter Bell, president of association. “As such, this equity will be increasingly important to help seniors fund longevity as they outlive the generations before them.” Meanwhile, nationwide home prices decreased 8.2% in the first quarter from a year earlier to a median of $169,600, and prices have now fallen for 57 consecutive months, according to Zillow.com.
Regulators closed one bank last week, bringing the number of failed banks in 2011 to 40. The Office of Thrift Supervision closed Coastal Bank, of Cocoa Beach, Fla. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver and reached an agreement with Premier American Bank of Miami to assume all the deposits of Coastal Bank and most of its assets. At March 31, the bank’s two branches had total assets of about $129.4 million and $123.9 million in total deposits. The FDIC estimates the cost to the deposit insurance fund will be $13.4 million. Write to Jason Philyaw.
