Fannie May Have to Restate Re Impairment

Mortgage giant Fannie Mae may have to restate previous years' earnings because of its accounting for impairment charges on manufactured housing loans as well as other assets, the company's regulator said Thursday, expanding on an earlier statement regarding its capital position.At MortgageWire's deadline, Fannie Mae could not be reached for comment. Armando Falcon, director of the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight, said late Thursday morning that the agency is investigating, in particular, Fannie's impairment charges and that the company "may not have applied the proper accounting guidance in this area. This could affect not only the company's manufactured housing portfolio, but other assets as well." OFHEO first raised the possibility on Wednesday that Fannie might have to restate earnings, but the agency said little else about the matter. A Fannie Mae spokeswoman told MW late Wednesday that OFHEO "has not reached any conclusions." At deadline time, the Senate Banking Committee was about to commence a mark-up of legislation to strengthen regulation of all housing government-sponsored enterprises, including Fannie Mae. Fannie can be found online at http://www.fanniemae.com.