NEW YORK (Reuters) - Fannie Mae (NYSE: FNM - news) <FNM.N>, the largest provider of U.S. home financing, on Tuesday reported its third straight quarterly loss as the U.S. housing crisis took another turn for the worse during the first quarter of 2008.

The federally chartered company also said it would reduce its common stock dividend beginning with its third-quarter payout as it sees significant credit losses stretching into 2009. It will raise $6 billion (3 billion pounds) in new capital through public securities offerings, it said in a regulatory filing.

Fannie Mae posted a net loss, after payment of preferred dividends, of $2.51 billion, or $2.57 per share, for the first quarter. That comes on the heels of a record $3.6 billion loss in the fourth quarter.

A year earlier, just before the slump in the housing market torpedoed mortgage and credit markets, Fannie posted a profit, after preferred dividend payments, of $826 million, or 85 cents per share.

Wall Street analysts, on average, expected the company to report a loss of $1.48 per share excluding any special items, according to Reuters Estimates. The 10 estimates ranged from a profit of 12 cents per share to a loss of $2.40 per share.

Home price declines and rising foreclosures that started in the subprime market have spread to higher-quality loans that make up the bulk of business at Fannie Mae and its smaller rival Freddie Mac (NYSE: FRE - news) <FRE.N>. Freddie Mac, too, is expected to post a big loss when it reports its first-quarter results next week.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac provide capital to U.S. mortgage markets by buying loans originated by banks and other lenders.

Through February, U.S. home prices had fallen nearly 15 percent from their peak in July 2006, according to the Standard & Poor's/Case Shiller index of 20 metro areas. In February alone, the latest month for which data is available, prices slid 2.6 percent from the previous month and 12.7 percent from a year earlier.

Foreclosure filings surged 23 percent in the first quarter, and were more than double a year earlier, according to RealtyTrac.

The housing and credit market crisis has hit financial shares hard in the past year, and Fannie Mae suffered more than most. Through Monday's New York Stock Exchange close, its stock has fallen nearly 54 percent over the last 12 months -- twice the drop in the S&P 500 financial index <.GSPF> over the same period.

(Reporting by Lynn Adler)