The Obama administration will begin tackling this dilemma next Tuesday at a public conference on the future of the mortgage system. Fannie and Freddie lost a combined $9 billion in the April-to-June quarter and have needed more than $148 billion to stay afloat since the government rescued them nearly two years ago.
Figuring out what to do with Fannie and Freddie could take years and involves a more difficult question: How much should the government do to subsidize the housing market?
The government has helped make mortgages attractive to Americans for decades with a range of policies, from allowing homeowners to deduct mortgage interest payments to backing loans that make long-term fixed-rate mortgages widely available.
RelatedWith tax credits gone, July home sales plungeNow, Fannie and Freddie are facing scrutiny for the billions that taxpayers have covered for the bad loans made during the housing boom. And the administration and Congress are under pressure to address Fannie and Freddie's role that contributed to the mortgage crisis after leaving that out of the broader financial regulatory overhaul.
Status quo may prevailSome would like the government to scale back its support for Fannie and Freddie to give the private sector a chance to compete. But others say ending it is unrealistic because it would make the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage less available or more expensive.
"When Congress overhauls the housing finance system, it's going to have to preserve something close to the status quo," said Jaret Seiberg, an analyst with Concept Capital's Washington Research Group. "Our whole housing system is built upon the ability of borrowers to get 30-year fixed-rate mortgages. You just can't remove that product from the market."
Without the government's backing, banks would prefer not to make loans that leave interest rates fixed for more than five years. They don't want to take the risks that interest rates will skyrocket, leaving them with an unprofitable loan a decade later.
Fannie and Freddie buy home loans from lenders, package them into bonds with a guarantee against default and sell them to investors. The pair nearly collapsed two years ago under the weight of soaring foreclosures and defaults.
On Monday, Freddie said it lost $6 billion, or $1.85 per share, in the April-to-June period. The company lost $840 million, or 26 cents a share, in the same quarter last year. And it asked for an additional $1.8 billion from the federal government, bringing its total request to $63.1 billion.
30-Year Rate Holds, 15-Yr Mortgage Rate Touches Yet Another LowHome sales take unexpected dip
