{"id":49549,"date":"2026-04-30T18:20:59","date_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:20:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/freddie-mac-reports-strong-q1-as-lower-rates-drive-refinance-growth\/"},"modified":"2026-04-30T18:20:59","modified_gmt":"2026-04-30T15:20:59","slug":"freddie-mac-reports-strong-q1-as-lower-rates-drive-refinance-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/freddie-mac-reports-strong-q1-as-lower-rates-drive-refinance-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"Freddie Mac reports strong Q1 as lower rates drive refinance growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

Freddie Mac<\/strong> posted a strong start to 2026, reporting $3.6 billion in first-quarter net income as lower mortgage rates boosted refinancing activity and the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) continued to build capital. Its profit rose from $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Speaking during the company\u2019s earnings call on Thursday morning, Jim Whitlinger<\/a>, the company\u2019s executive vice president and chief financial officer, said that net income increased 27% year over year, while Freddie Mac\u2019s total mortgage portfolio grew to $3.7 trillion.<\/p>\n

The company provided roughly $116 billion in liquidity to the housing market during the quarter and helped 380,000 families buy, refinance or rent homes. <\/p>\n

Freddie Mac<\/a> also became the first GSE to securitize loans using VantageScor<\/strong>e 4.0<\/a>, Whitlinger said, following a recent move by regulators<\/a> to expand credit scoring options in the mortgage market.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese results demonstrate the earnings power of Freddie Mac,\u201d Whitlinger said, citing higher net interest income and continued portfolio growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe delivered strong first quarter results, with net income of $3.6 billion and net revenues of $6.1 billion, Freddie Mac CEO Kenny Smith<\/a> added.<\/p>\n

The rise in net revenue was driven largely by a 10% increase in net interest income to $5.6 billion. Freddie Mac also recorded a $320 million benefit for credit reserves, compared with a $280 million provision expense in Q1 2025. Whitlinger said the reserve release reflected stronger expectations for home-price growth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mac\u2019s net worth climbed to nearly $74 billion at the end of March, up 18% from a year earlier, although the company remains below its regulatory capital requirements. Whitlinger said Freddie Mac\u2019s total required capital stood at $161 billion, including stress and stability buffers.<\/p>\n

Its single-family business generated $3 billion in net income during the quarter, up 32% year over year, as refinance activity accelerated amid lower mortgage rates<\/a> earlier in the year.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mac acquired $103 billion in new single-family business during the quarter, with refis accounting for 42% of total volume. That marked its highest quarterly refinance share in four years. New business was up from $78 billion posted in Q1 2025.<\/p>\n

Whitlinger said Freddie Mac acquired more than twice as many refinance loans as it did a year earlier, helping nearly 100,000 additional households refinance over the past two quarters compared with the same period a year ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis isn\u2019t just a statistic,\u201d Whitlinger said. \u201cEach of those loans potentially represents a lower mortgage payment<\/a>, the retirement of higher-cost debt, or improvements to accommodate a growing family in an existing home.\u201d<\/p>\n

The GSE financed 281,000 mortgages and enabled 79,000 first-time homebuyers to purchase a home, its press release explained.<\/p>\n

Freddie Mac said the majority of homes and rental units<\/a> it financed during the quarter were affordable to families earning 120% or less of the area median income. Among homebuyers purchasing a primary residence, 52% were first-time buyers<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The company\u2019s single-family credit profile<\/a> remained strong, with an average credit score of 758 on newly acquired loans and a serious delinquency rate of 0.6%.<\/p>\n

In multifamily<\/a>, Freddie Mac reported $582 million in first-quarter net income, up 9% year over year. New multifamily business volume increased 25% to $13 billion, with roughly two-thirds categorized as mission-driven affordable housing. Net revenue for multifamily was $1 billion.<\/p>\n

Whitlinger also highlighted Freddie Mac\u2019s continued shift toward fully guaranteed multifamily securitizations. The company securitized $24 billion in multifamily loans during the quarter, nearly all of which were fully guaranteed transactions.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Freddie Mac posted a strong start to 2026, reporting $3.6 billion in first-quarter net income as lower mortgage rates boosted refinancing activity and the government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) continued to build capital. Its profit rose from $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025. Speaking during the company\u2019s earnings call on Thursday morning, Jim Whitlinger, the…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49549"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49549\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mk.gen.tr\/tr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}