Fannie Mae Registers $1.2 Billion Loss, Smallest Since 2007

The housing market is still ailing, but Fannie Mae is slowly recovering, another indicator that the overall picture for real estate is improving ever so slightly. For the second quarter of 2010, Fannie lost $1.2 billion, compared to the $14.8 million loss it filed in the same quarter of 2009. The prospects of Fannie and its smaller sibling, Freddie Mac, are dependent on whether their mortgage holders are able to make payments on time. Both companies ran into trouble in 2008 when they made underwriting standards less stringent just as the real estate market and economy were collapsing.