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US housing giant Fannie Mae seeks another $10.7B aid

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-07 09:59

WASHINGTON: The U.S. major mortgage firm Fannie Mae asked the government for another 10.7 billion-dollar aid after a massive loss in the second quarter, the company said Thursday.

The troubled state-backed housing giant posted a 15.2 billion-dollar lost in the April to June period after a 23.2 billion-dollar loss in the first quarter. That compares with a loss of 2.6 billion dollars in the second quarter last year.

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Fannie Mae and its fellow state-backed lender Freddie Mac have already received hundreds of billions of dollars as part of a virtual government takeover aimed at avoiding their collapse in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis.

The government, which seized control of Fannie Mae and its sibling Freddie Mac last September, has already spent about 85 billion dollars to prop up the two companies. Fannie Mae's new request from the Treasury Department will bring the total to nearly 96 billion dollars. Freddie Mac is expected to report its quarterly results on Friday.

"We are dependent on the continued support of Treasury in order to continue operating our business," Fannie Mae said in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing late Thursday.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play a vital role in the U.S. mortgage market by purchasing loans from banks and selling them to investors. Together, Fannie and Freddie own or guarantee almost 31 million home loans worth about 5.4 trillion dollars. That's about half of all U.S home mortgages.

The Obama Administration has been trying to reform the ailing housing market since taking office.

It is reported Wednesday that the head of the federal agency that regulates Fannie and Freddie Mac, James Lockhart, is stepping down at the end of this month.

Analysts said that the U.S. housing market is still in trouble.