Turn up the volume on your real estate success at Inman On Tour: Nashville! Connect with industry trailblazers and top-tier speakers to gain insights, cutting-edge strategies, and invaluable connections. Elevate your business and achieve your boldest goals — all with Music City magic. Register now.
Mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac continue to build their net worths on strong revenue and profits, boding well for the Trump administration’s desire to release the companies from government conservatorship.
But incoming Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the Trump administration has other priorities for now, and that any plan for privatizing Fannie and Freddie shouldn’t result in consumers paying higher mortgage rates.
In the meantime, some housing finance experts warn that the Trump administration may impose limits on how much support the mortgage giants can provide to riskier borrowers.
Fannie and Freddie were placed in government conservatorship in 2008 as mortgage delinquencies and foreclosures climbed during the Great Recession of 2007-09.
The mortgage giants have come a long way since then, this week reporting combined 2024 profits of $28.9 billion that helped boost their total net worths to more than $150 billion.
Fannie Mae disclosed in its annual report to investors Friday that it’s upped provisions for credit losses by $257 million this year, to $752 million, due to fraud or suspected fraud that could affect the performance of multifamily loans it guarantees.
But the backing Fannie provides for apartment buildings accounted for only a fraction (16 percent) of the company’s $29 billion in 2024 revenue, and the multifamily business remains profitable, generating $2.5 billion in net income.
Most of Fannie Mae’s $17 billion in 2024 profits (85 percent) came from its single-family mortgage guarantee business, which backed $326 billion in home mortgages last year. That includes 778,000…