Fannie Mae reported an annual profit of $84 billion for 2013, a banner year in which strong home-price gains in housing markets across the U.S. powered the mortgage-finance giant to an astounding rebound, the Wall Street Journal reported today. Fannie also said that it would pay $7.2 billion to the U.S. Treasury next month after it reported a $6.5 billion fourth-quarter profit. The payment means the mortgage-finance giant, together with its smaller rival Freddie Mac, will do what many considered impossible just two years ago: They will have paid more in dividends to the government — around $192.5 billion — than the $187.5 billion they received from the U.S. Treasury for their 2008 bailouts.
