Academic

CHANGE: Fannie and Freddie tab is $146B and rising. ?Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac took over a forecl?

By Glenn Reynolds

CHANGE: Fannie and Freddie tab is $146B and rising. “Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac took over a foreclosed home roughly every 90 seconds during the first three months of the year. They owned 163,828 houses at the end of March, a virtual city with more houses than Seattle. The mortgage finance companies, created by Congress to help Americans buy homes, have become two of the nation?s largest landlords. . . . For all the focus on the historic federal rescue of the banking industry, it is the government?s decision to seize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in September 2008 that is likely to cost taxpayers the most money. So far the tab stands at $145.9 billion, and it grows with every foreclosure of a three-bedroom home with a two-car garage one hour from Phoenix. The Congressional Budget Office has predicted that the final bill could reach $389 billion.”

Full post as published by Instapundit.com on June 21, 2010 (boomark / email).