Government sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac got a much needed boost today when they announced that they had sold $2 billion in short term loans.  This should allow the two companies to continue to guarantee new loans and make money.  Without the selling of debt, the two firms would remain in serious trouble as they are responsible for backing home loans / mortgages that continue to default at a significant rate.

Last week, mortgage rates ended up slightly with the 30 year fixed mortgage rates up 6 basis points to 6.39% and the 15 year fixed rate mortgage up 9 basis points to 5.95%.  Some stability is coming back to the market and many believe that US interest rates will be going up to help curtail inflation from commodities like energy and corn.

While the solvency of mortgage bond originators and large holders is/has been called into question lately, it seems as if the mortgage bond market is beginning to shore up.  This is a good sign for real estate investors and with some confirmation may signify the overall bottom in the macro real estate markets.  The well respected Aleph Blog has made this call along with others and I think this bodes well for us real estate investors.