Dividends being paid to the Treasury Department by the Federal National Mortgage Association exceed taxpayer-funded bailout draws. The company expects to be profitable for the foreseeable future, though nowhere near as profitable as it was last year.
The government-controlled enterprise reported in its fourth-quarter earnings report that it has provided $4.1 trillion in funding to the mortgage market since 2009.
More than three quarters of Fannie Mae’s current book of single-family business has been purchased since 2009 the report indicated.
“Given their strong credit risk profile and based on their performance so far, the company expects that in the aggregate these loans will be profitable over their lifetime, meaning the company’s fee income on these loans will exceed the company’s credit losses and administrative costs for them,” the report stated.
Last year, the secondary lender was responsible for 47 percent of new single-family mortgage-related securities issuances. Since 2009, the share has fluctuated from a low of 44 percent in 2010 to a high of 49 percent in 2012.
The report indicated that the weighted-average credit score on last year’s originations was 753, down for the second year in a row. The average contrasts 2004, when credit scores were just 715.
Weighted-average loan-to-value ratios increased to 75.7 percent from 74.5 percent in 2012. LTVs fell to a low of 66.8 percent in 2009.
Fannie previously reported that its book of business finished last year at $ 3.16 trillion. The earnings report indicated that single-family accounted for $2.89 trillion and multifamily made up $0.20 trillion.
Fannie said it held a 21 percent share of all outstanding debt on multifamily properties as of Sept. 30, 2013.
Prior to income taxes, fourth-quarter earnings were $8.274 billion, off from the third quarter’s $10.999 billion.
Full-year 2013 net income was $38.567 billion, more than doubling the $17.220 billion earned in the 2012.
“Fannie Mae will pay Treasury $7.2 billion in dividends in March 2014,” the report said. “With the March dividend payment, Fannie Mae will have paid a total of $121.1 billion in dividends to Treasury in comparison to $116.1 billion in draw requests since 2008. Dividend payments do not offset prior Treasury draws.”
Last year’s income after taxes skyrocketed to $83.982 billion from just $17.220 billion in 2012. The improvement was primarily the result of a one-time valuation allowance against deferred tax assets.
While the Washington, D.C-based firm says it expects to remain profitable for the foreseeable future, it doesn’t see a repeat ahead for the level of income generated last year.
