Fannie and Freddie: Single family serious delinquency rates decreased in March

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1. Fannie and Freddie: Single family serious delinquency rates decreased in March

Freddie Mac reported that the Single-Family serious delinquency rate in March was 0.59%, down from 0.61% February. Freddie's rate is up year-over-year from 0.52% in March 2024, however, this is close to the pre-pandemic level of 0.60%.

Freddie's serious delinquency rate peaked in February 2010 at 4.20% following the housing bubble and peaked at 3.17% in August 2020 during the pandemic.

Fannie Mae reported that the Single-Family serious delinquency rate in March was 0.56%, down from 0.57% in February. The serious delinquency rate is up year-over-year from 0.51% in March 2024, however, this is below the pre-pandemic lows of 0.65%.

The Fannie Mae serious delinquency rate peaked in February 2010 at 5.59% following the housing bubble and peaked at 3.32% in August 2020 during the pandemic.

2. Howard Hanna agrees to settle commission suit after court battle

Howard Hanna Real Estate Services has reached an agreement in principle to settle the Gibson commission lawsuit, a court notice filed Friday shows.

The proposed deal, which still requires judicial approval, would stay all proceedings against the Pittsburgh-based brokerage while the settlement is finalized. Howard Hanna has not admitted any wrongdoing and expressly reserves its legal defenses should the agreement collapse or be challenged.

This settlement follows a series of federal cases arising from last year’s Sitzer/Burnett verdict on MLS commission rules and positions Howard Hanna alongside other major brokerages seeking to resolve these claims.

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3. More Nuggets

👀 Trump’s budget request seeks $33B in HUD cuts. (HousingWire)

📈 High Rates accelerate the rise of AI-enabled mortgage lenders. (Propmodo)

🚨 New Jersey sues RealPage, 10 landlords. (BankingDive)

💸 PennyMac raises $850M in high-demand debt issuance. (StockTitan)

🏡 NYC lost $9 billion of income to Miami, Palm Beach in five years. (Yahoo)

4. Employers added 177,000 jobs in April despite tariff uncertainty

Job growth was stronger than expected in April despite worries over the impact of President Donald Trump’s blanket tariffs against U.S. trading partners.

Nonfarm payrolls increased a seasonally adjusted 177,000 for the month, slightly below the downwardly revised 185,000 in March but above the Dow Jones estimate for 133,000, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported Friday.

5. Wisconsin accused of ‘home equity theft’

Wisconsin homeowners whose properties were sold at foreclosure auctions before April 3, 2022 have filed suit in state court seeking to reclaim windfall proceeds that counties kept under the now-repealed “home equity theft” practice.

Under the old law, counties could pocket the difference between a delinquent tax balance and the auction price; one pair of plaintiffs owed $4,762.54 yet saw their home fetch $31,000, leaving $25,837.46 in excess proceeds taken by the state.

Last May’s unanimous U.S. Supreme Court decision in a Minnesota case held that retaining such surplus violates the Fifth Amendment’s Takings Clause—and potentially the Excessive Fines Clause—prompting over 40 states, including Wisconsin, to bar jurisdictions from keeping anything beyond the debt owed.

☀️ You’re all caught up. See you on Wednesday!

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