Higher rates coming to a mortgage giant near you?
Experts continue to debate how much trouble mortgage financiers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are actually in, but several weighed in yesterday on what it all means. And, as some of you here have speculated, they say it probably means higher interest rates and more restrictive lending standards.
That's likely if the government takes over -- which it said yesterday it is not the plan -- or if the mortgage giants simply need to borrow money on the open market from investors, who are jittery enough to demand better returns.
"The last thing anyone wants to see is higher rates," said Keith T. Gumbinger, a vice president at financial publisher HSH Associates. "That could induce even further downward pressure on home prices."
Also yesterday: The government seized control of IndyMac Bank, saying the "unprecedented stress" in the real estate market had left it "unsafe and unsound."
Sign up for the At Home newsletter 
