Fannie Mae Reportedly Requests $4.6 Billion in Federal Assistance

Fannie Mae, the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), has announced that it lost nearly $2.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, reporting revenue of approximately $4.5 billion. In order to make up for this deficit, Fannie Mae is requesting $4.6 billion in aid from the federal government. Fannie Mae reported losses of $2.1 billion in Q4 of 2010. To date, nearly $150 in taxpayer dollars have been committed to maintaining both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The government estimates that figure could exceed $260 billion to support the GSEs through 2014 after subtracting dividend payments. To date, Fannie Mae has received more than $116 billion from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, the most expensive bailout of a single company. In November, Freddie Mae asked for an additional $6 billion in extra financial assistance, the largest request since April 2010, after it reported losing $6 billion in the third quarter of 2011. "While economic factors, such as falling home prices and high unemployment, produced strong headwinds for our business again in 2011, we continued to grow a very strong new book of business as we have since 2009," said Michael J. Williams, Fannie's president and chief executive officer.