Fannie Mai just posted larger than expected losses and essentially got out of the Alt-A mortgage market. This will translate into tighter standards for borrows which has downward pressure on home prices.
Fannie Mae is raising fees, which will be passed onto borrowers as higher interest rates, and abandoning "Alt-A" borrowers because those loans are defaulting at an alarming rate. These high-risk loans -- made to borrowers with solid credit but little proof of their income, or small or no down payments -- made up about 11 percent of Fannie's portfolio but accounted for more than half of its credit losses in the quarter.
If Freddie Mac follows Fannie Mae and stops buying Alt-A loans, "it means that market is not going to exist at all. It's barely hanging on now," said Guy Cecala, publisher of Inside Mortgage Finance, a trade publication.
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clipped from biz.yahoo.com
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