Freddie said Thursday that it has paid a dividend of 1.8 billion $ for the U.S. Treasury and not requested any additional federal help.
The earnings compared with a net profit of 619 million $ in the fourth quarter of 2011.
The Government saved Freddie and more big brother Fannie Mae during the financial crisis after the two suffered massive losses on mortgage loans risky. Taxpayers spent about 170 billion $ to save Freddie and more big brother Fannie Mae, the most expensive rescue of the crisis plan. So far, the companies have repaid combined 52.3 billion $.
Under a federal policy adopted last summer, Fannie and Freddie must submit their quarterly profits to the Government. The change was made to ensure that they repay the Government.
"It is clearly our benefit that the housing market has become a corner and that our work to minimize losses (mortgage)... is paying off," Freddie CEO Donald Layton said in a statement.
For all 2012, Freddie had a net profit of 11 billion $, compared to a net loss of 5.3 billion $ in 2011.
Freddie, based in McLean, Virginia, has requested no assistance from the Government in the second and third quarters of last year, after having requested 19 million $ in the first quarter. The company received 7.6 billion $ for the whole of 2011 and 13 billion $ for the whole of 2010.
Washington-based Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee about half of all U.S. mortgages, or nearly 31 million home loans. These loans are more than 5 trillion $. As well as other federal agencies, they back approximately 90 per cent of new mortgages.
The housing market has started to recover more than five years after the bursting of the bubble. Home sales are up since a year ago, aided by a limited offer and mortgage rates historically low. Manufacturers are more confident and began to build more houses. And home prices are showing gains in uniforms.
A measure of the number of Americans who signed contracts to buy homes rose in January from December to the highest level in more than 2 1/2 years, the National Association of Realtors reported Wednesday. The increase suggests that sales of occupied dwellings previously continue rising in the coming months.
Sales of homes previously occupied ticked up in January after a rise to their highest level in five years in 2012. And sales of new homes jumped 16 per cent last month from December to the most high-level since July 2008, the Commerce Department said Tuesday. House prices, have increased at the same time, more in more than six years in the 12 months ending in December.
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