Who Is Fannie Mae

7-6-2012

Fannie May is a giant! No not really, well sort of really.

They did create almost 3 trillion dollars of liquidity in the mortgage market in just over two years. From 2009 to first quarter of 2012 they allowed 2.1 million people to purchase a home and 7.4 million to refinance their current homes.

Fannie Mae's goal is to keep money flowing to mortgage lenders, which can strengthen the U.S. housing and mortgage markets, as well as supports affordable homeownership. They aim is to make sure people can buy or rent housing.

A brief history:
Fannie Mae (Federal National Mortgage Association) was founded in 1938 during the great depression as part of the New Deal. It is a government sponsored enterprise and publicly traded corporation since 1968. Fannie Mae's role in our nation is to expand the secondary mortgage market by securitizing mortgages. By securitizing mortgages it allows for banks to reduce their loaned out volumes so they can loan more money, and reinvest their assets. Fannie Mae is the largest issuer of mortgage backed securities.

You will often hear Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac together. To learn about Freddie Mac click here.

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