The federal government’s takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sent mortgage rates tumbling in California, raising hopes that the state’s severely ailing housing market will get a boost.
After the federal action Sunday, consumers with outstanding credit Monday were offered rates as low as 5.375 percent on 30-year fixed mortgages, said Cathy Warshawsky, president of [...]

Most borrowers never come into contact with mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That’s because the companies work with lenders rather than consumers.
Nevertheless, Fannie and Freddie play an essential role in the mortgage industry and the economy in general. Here are answers to some basic questions about these companies and your stake in [...]

WASHINGTON — Home mortgage rates moved lower this week after indications that consumer spending could slow, Freddie Mac’s chief economist said.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.35% in the week ended Sept. 4, down from 6.40% last week and 6.46% a year ago, according to Freddie Mac’s weekly survey. Fifteen-year fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.90% this week, [...]

NEW YORK — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are demanding higher returns from lenders in exchange for buying loans that help finance rental-apartment buildings, as the two mortgage-finance giants expand in the sector.
The rate increases, the most recent of which came in the past week, are attributable to generally higher borrowing costs and efforts by [...]

WASHINGTON — Rates on fixed-rate home mortgages fell this week, following reports of weakness in the economy, Freddie Mac’s chief economist said Thursday. But rates on adjustable-rate mortgages rose slightly.
The 30-year fixed-rate mortgage averaged 6.40% for the week ended Aug. 28, down from 6.47% last week.
The mortgage averaged 6.67% a year ago. And 15-year fixed-rate [...]

The Federal Housing Administration, a U.S. agency that is rapidly shouldering more of the risk on home loans, raised the premiums it charges for insuring that mortgages will be repaid.
In a posting on its Web site Tuesday, the FHA said the upfront premiums charged to most borrowers will be 1.75% of the loan amount, effective [...]

The nation’s two largest secondary mortgage corporations, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, say they’ll stop buying subprime mortgages in New York State. Banks lending in New York will have to change their mortgage origination systems to reflect Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s exit from subprime lending in the state. It is unclear yet how onerous [...]

A recovery in the U.S. housing market from the worst slump since the Depression is unlikely until “well into 2009,” Housing and Urban Development Secretary Steve Preston said today.
“I think we’re right in the middle of it, and I think we have a ways to go before we start seeing a turnaround,” Preston said today [...]

U.S. sales of previously owned homes rose a healthy 3.1% in July from the previous month, but growing inventories of unsold homes and rising mortgage interest rates continue to thwart a full housing-market recovery.
Existing-home sales increased to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of five million units, the highest since February, the National Association of Realtors [...]

Freddie Mac executives are sounding out private-equity firms and other investors about the possibility of buying new common or preferred shares in the mortgage company.
But that effort is running up against what may be an insurmountable hurdle: Many investors fear any money they invest now in Freddie or its main rival, Fannie Mae, will be [...]