Section 1601 of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (HERA) requires the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to conduct an ongoing study of the guarantee fees charged by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) for guaranteeing a mortgage. HERA further requires that FHFA annually submit a report to Congress on the results of its guarantee-fee study. HERA requires the report to contain an analysis of the average guarantee fee and a breakdown by product type, risk class, and seller size. Finally, HERA requires that the report reflect an analysis of the costs associated with providing guarantees and an analysis of any increase or decrease in guarantee fees from the preceding year.
In this report, FHFA identifies and analyzes the single-family guarantee fees charged by the Enterprises in 2021. This report compares and contrasts the Enterprises’ 2021 guarantee fees with the preceding year. Further, it provides additional historical guarantee fee data back to 2018.
Below are the major findings comparing single-family guarantee fees from 2020 to 2021:
Average guarantee fees
- Total average guarantee fees increased 2 basis points (to 56 basis points).
- Average upfront guarantee fees increased 2 basis points (to 13 basis points).
- Average ongoing guarantee fees remained unchanged at 43 basis points.