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Ten Billion Reasons Why the Government Should Make Life Easier for Homeowners

Some analysts fear the success of Fannie Mae repaying loans will make it harder for US lawmakers to pull back from government involvement in the mortgage markets.

Fannie Mae, the nationalized US housing lender that US president Barack Obama would like to eliminate, will pay $10 billion back to the government this quarter—a boon to the deficit reduction project, but a problem for efforts to speed up the still-slow US economic recovery.

The news comes in today’s earning’s announcement, which notes that the nationalized home lender will return $105.3 billion to the US Treasury during the current quarter, compared to the $116.1 billion it withdrew to cover losses during the financial crisis. Fannie is returning the extra cash thanks to the strengthening housing market and its economic effects.

Read more and see the charts at Quartz.

(Image via Olivier Le Queinec/Shutterstock.com)