Fannie Mae will pay treasury $3.7 billion after quarterly profit

Fannie Mae will give the Treasury Department $3.7 billion next month after the largest financier of U.S. mortgages posted its 10th-consecutive quarterly profit.

Washington-based Fannie Mae, owned by taxpayers after being seized by the government six years ago, had net income of $3.7 billion for the three months through June, according to a regulatory filing today. That's down from $10.1 billion in the year-earlier period as the end of a refinancing boom caused U.S. mortgage originations to plummet.

Fannie Mae purchased 51 percent of U.S. mortgages in the second quarter, compared with its 46 percent market share in 2013's second quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Mortgage lending tumbled 50 percent in the three months through June from a year earlier as higher rates caused the demand for refinancing to collapse, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association in Washington.

While the housing bust forced Fannie Mae to its knees, the real estate recovery that began two years ago sent its profits soaring, boosting the nation's finances. The company earned a record $84 billion in 2013, more than 20 times the $4.1 billion of 2006, the last year before the crash. After next month's payment, Fannie Mae will have returned $130.5 billion to Treasury, surpassing the $116 billion it got in bailout funds.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kathleen M. Howley in Boston at kmhowleybloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Maura Reynolds at mreynolds34bloomberg.net Anthony Gnoffo, Steve Dickson