The 2008 Financial crisis was a costly lesson in the dangers that come with subsidizing risk. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are well recognized as the principal creators of moral hazard by reimbursing investors that held mortgage-backed securities when homeowners failed to make payments on their mortgages. Yet only five years after the worst of … Continue reading
A slew of housing data came out today and will continue to pour out this week. The take-away for the day: nothing too terrible to report. Home prices in most markets around the country have either flat-lined or have very modestly improved. No surprises. Though some markets have hit new lows, most indicators point to … Continue reading
The director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced today that with additional incentives, funded through TARP, a program of principal forgiveness through Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSE), might now make more sense. While making no official announcement, FHFA Director Edward DeMarco said that the additional funds would make such … Continue reading
The Acting Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), designated to the position by President Obama in 2009, rebuffed attacks made by Democratic senators on the issue of mortgage principal reduction in a hearing today focused on barriers to a recovery in the housing market. Without an avenue in Congress to pass the necessary … Continue reading
Lost in the mire of political news about yet another trillion-dollar deficit and the latest from the campaign trail are a number of important developments in housing. This week the President kicked off the campaign to sell his plan for solving America’s housing market woes, a plan he outlined in the State of the Union. … Continue reading
Policy Interns 