Peering in the Fannie, Freddie window
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac's government keeper, the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has a new report out that details the financiers' mortgage delinquency and foreclosure situation. It doesn't break it down by state, alas, but it does offer some insight into the troubles that helped land them in conservatorship.
For instance: Fannie and Freddie started foreclosure proceedings on an average of 36,000 mortgages in each of the first three months of the year. That's an increase of 60 percent from last year's average. By the end of March, they owned 61,000 foreclosed homes, up from 48,000 at the end of last year.
Despite Fannie and Freddie's reputation, these loans aren't just your traditional prime mortgages. Of their total portfolio of 30 million mortgages in March, 17 percent were "nonprime" -- which could mean Alt-A, that gray area between prime and subprime.
