Fannie Mae to pay federal government $10.2 billion in profits

[babylonsister]

Fannie Mae to pay federal government $10.2 billion in profits
By Peter Schroeder - 08/08/13 09:20 AM ET


Fannie Mae will pay the Treasury Department $10.2 billion in profits as the housing giant continues to recover from the burst housing bubble.

The government-sponsored enterprise reported a comprehensive second quarter income of $10.3 billion. After removing what it needs for operating expenses, Fannie will remit the remaining profits to the government as a condition of its 2008 rescue. All told, Fannie has now paid the government about $105 billion since being bailed out.

Fannie's second quarter was its sixth straight quarter with a profit, and nearly twice its profits from the same time one year ago. The housing enterprise attribute "a significant increase in home prices" as a driving cause for the profit boost. It expects to remain profitable "for the foreseeable future."

But that future is largely in question, as members from both parties, including the president, are beginning to take a hard look at winding down the GSEs and overhauling the nation's housing finance system. President Obama has hammered the housing reform message for the past week, after lawmakers went home for the August recess. Both parties agree the current arrangement, in which the government ends up backing the vast majority of the nation's mortgages, is unsustainable, and that the private sector needs to play a larger role in the housing market.

more...

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/1091-housing/316117-fannie-mae-to-pay-federal-government-102-billion-in-profits

[House of Roberts]

1. So the corporcrats want it back,

now that it's profitable again? This should stay a government entity, run responsibly, until the National Debt reaches zero.

[alstephenson]

2. So didn't we just bail out the private sector as well?

I don't get it.