In its “strongest earnings since 2021,” Freddie Mac reported full-year net income of $11.9 billion, an increase of 13% from the prior year, primarily driven by higher net revenue. Net income for the fourth quarter of 2024 was $3.2 billion, an increase of $308 million, or 11%, from Q4 2023.
The company had net revenue for 2024 of $23.9 billion, up $2.7 billion, or 13%, annually. Net revenue for Q4 2024 totaled $6.3 billion, up $956 million, or 18%, annually, which was driven by increases in both net interest income and non-interest income, according to Freddie Mac.
“2024 was a solid year for Freddie Mac,” Jim Whitlinger, the company’s executive vice president and CFO, said on an earnings call Thursday. “We delivered our strongest earnings since 2021, our net worth reached nearly $60 billion, and we continue to employ strategies that help families stay in their homes and enhance Freddie Mac’s safety and soundness.”
Last year, the GSE acquired more than a million loans from over a thousand lenders, he added, and issued mortgage-backed securities (MBS) totaling more than $411 billion in 2024, up 18% from 2023.
More than half, 52%, of the primary home purchases Freddie Mac financed went to first-time home buyers, and 53% of all home loans the company financed “were affordable to low- and moderate-income families,” Whitlinger noted.
Freddie Mac’s total mortgage portfolio stood at $3.6 trillion at the end of 2024, up 3% from the same time in 2023. That was driven by a 2% increase in the GSE’s single-family mortgage portfolio and a 6% increase in its multi-family mortgage portfolio, according to Whitlinger.
The company’s single-family business segment had net income of $9.4 billion for 2024, which was up $318 million, or 4%, from the prior year. The increase was primarily driven by higher net revenue of $19.8 billion, which was up $1.6 billion – 8% – from 2023.
Freddie Mac’s single-family mortgage portfolio totaled $3.1 trillion at the end of 2024, an increase of 2% from 2023. “Our single family portfolio credit characteristics remain strong,” said Whitlinger, “with a weighted average current loan-to-value ratio at 52% and the weighted average current credit score at 755.”
However, “our single family serious delinquency rate was 59 basis points as of Dec. 31, 2024, up four basis points from 55 basis points at the end of 2023,” Whitlinger noted. “This increase in the serious delinquency rate was primarily due to recent hurricanes.”
Home prices increased 4% in 2024, according to Freddie Mac, compared to a 6.8% increase in 2023. The company expects tempered growth over the next two years: “Our current forecast assumes house prices will grow by 2.7% over the next 12 months and 3.3% over the subsequent 12 months,” Whitlinger said.
