The FHFA in September increased the cap on Fannie’s and Freddie’s multifamily lending to $100 billion each through the end of 2020, with at least 37.5% of their business earmarked for affordable housing.
Many analysts anticipated the implementation of CECL would balloon the loan loss reserves of the GSEs. Last week, though, both enterprises downplayed CECL’s potential impact on first-quarter earnings.
If billionaire Mike Bloomberg starts looking like a front-runner in the 2020 presidential elections, putting out stock offerings on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could prove difficult.
Fannie Mae reported ”fair value losses” of $2.2 billion for 2019. That’s compared to a $1.1 billion gain in 2018, and a $1.2 billion loss in 2017. Volatility in the company’s income reflects its hedging operations.
According to court filings, beginning in 2016, the FHLB-SF developed a proposal for the bank to purchase one of the GSEs. To assist in the process, the bank also engaged the services of McKinsey Consulting.
The hiatus in the net worth sweep added $12.53 billion to the GSEs’ combined net worth over the last six months of 2019, including fourth-quarter profit of $4.27 billion at Fannie and $2.45 billion at Freddie. (Includes data chart.)