The guarantee fee that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge to their seller/servicers fell to 22 basis points last year from 25 the year before, according to a new study conducted by the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
Lower "g-fees" translate into improved earnings for lenders that sell to the two government-controlled mortgage investing giants.
In years past—before the mortgage market cratered—some of the top volume sellers to Fannie and Freddie received huge g-fee discounts in exchange for upstreaming most of their originations to one GSE or the other.
Countrywide Financial Corp., for instance, was rumored to have a g-fee agreement with Fannie Mae for as little as 14 basis points.
In its report, the FHFA says the reduction in g-fees last year "resulted from significant improvement in the credit profile of the single-family mortgages they acquired relative to 2008."
A recent profitability study conducted by the Mortgage Bankers Association found that the average residential lender had pretax income of $4.9 million last year compared to just under $1 million in 2008.
