Fannie and Freddie Reports Offer Positive Sign for Housing

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In the latest sign that the worst might be over for the battered American housing market, the two government-controlled mortgage finance giants, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, this week reported some of their best quarterly results since the real estate collapse.

On Wednesday, Fannie Mae posted second-quarter net income of $5.1 billion. That is up from $2.7 billion in the first quarter of this year and an improvement from a net loss of $2.9 billion in the second quarter of last year. Fannie requested no additional money from the Treasury and said it would pay a $2.9 billion dividend to taxpayers.

On Tuesday, its brother organization, Freddie Mac, announced second-quarter net income of $3 billion, up from $577 million in the first quarter and a net loss of $2.1 billion in the year-ago second quarter. It also requested no additional federal aid and said it would pay a $1.8 billion dividend to the federal government.