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Monday, November 10, 2008

Fannie: $100 Billion May Not be Enough

by Calculated Risk on 11/10/2008 05:49:00 PM

From Bloomberg: Fannie Says $100 Billion Pledge From Treasury May Not Be Enough

Fannie Mae may need more than the $100 billion in funding pledged by the U.S. Treasury to stay afloat after reporting a record $29 billion loss and confronting more difficulty in issuing and refinancing debt.

``This commitment may not be sufficient to keep us in solvent condition or from being placed into receivership,'' if there are further ``substantial'' losses or if the company is unable to sell unsecured debt, Washington-based Fannie said in a filing today with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Here is the Fannie 10-Q filed with the SEC. This statement is under "Risks Relating to Our Business" and is not a prediction from Fannie, just a statement of a possible risk. The huge loss reported today was mostly because of a reduction in deferred tax assets.

Here are a few excerpts from the Fannie section on Housing and Economic Conditions:

  • Growth in U.S. residential mortgage debt outstanding slowed to an estimated annual rate of 2.0% based on the first six months of 2008, compared with an estimated annual rate of 8.3% based on the first six months of 2007, and is expected to continue to decline to a growth rate of about 0% in 2009.
  • We continue to expect that home prices will decline 7% to 9% on a national basis in 2008, and that home prices nationally will decline 15% to 19% from their peak in 2006 before they stabilize. Through September 30, 2008, home prices nationally have declined 10% from their peak in 2006. (Our estimates compare to approximately 12% to 16% for 2008, and 27% to 32% peak-to-trough, using the Case-Schiller index.) We currently expect home price declines at the top end of our estimated ranges. We also expect significant regional variation in these national home price decline percentages, with steeper declines in certain areas such as Florida, California, Nevada and Arizona. The deteriorating economic conditions and related government actions that occurred in the third quarter of 2008 have increased the uncertainty of future economic conditions, including home price movements. Therefore, while our peak-to-trough home price forecast is at the top end of the 15% to 19% range, there is increasing uncertainty about the actual amount of decline that will occur.
    So Fannie is expecting house price declines of around 32% using the Case-Shiller index.