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Stabilizing operational costs and the potential for steady profits at Freddie Mac could further lessen the urgency of structural reforms.
August 7
Fannie Mae said that, for the second straight quarter, it won't need aid from the Treasury as rising home prices continue to bolster the housing market.
Net income was $5.1 billion in the second quarter, even after a dividend payment to the Treasury of $2.9 billion, Washington-based Fannie Mae said today in a statement. Profit compared with a $2.89 billion loss in the same period a year earlier.
Earnings benefited from a decline in single-family loans more than 90-days delinquent and improved sale prices on the foreclosed homes the company owns, Fannie Mae said.
"We expect our financial results in 2012 to be substantially better than the past few years," Chief Executive Officer Timothy J. Mayopoulos said in the statement. "With our high-quality new book of business and diminishing legacy expenses, Fannie Mae has strong potential earnings power that can deliver considerable value to taxpayers over the long term."
Fannie Mae's sister company, McLean, Virginia-based Freddie Mac, said yesterday it wouldn't need a Treasury draw for the first time since the first quarter of 2011. Freddie Mac reported net income of $3 billion in the second quarter, even after a dividend payment to the Treasury of $1.8 billion.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have taken a total of almost $190 billion in U.S. aid since they went into conservatorship in September 2008 after investments in risky loans pushed them to the brink of insolvency. The companies own or guarantee more than half of U.S. home loans.
