A credit-loss provision drove Fannie Mae's earnings to the low-end of the range they've been in for the past decade as the new leader of its regulator pledged to improve government-sponsored enterprise results with efficiency measures and other operational improvements.
Fannie reported $3.7 billion for the first quarter, down from $4.1 billion in
A $24 million single-family provision for credit losses linked to economic uncertainty and positive changes in actual and forecast home prices weighed down the GSE's earnings during the seasonally weak period. Loan acquisitions were up 3% from a year earlier at $64 billion.
"While assets are significant, there remains great opportunity to turn the business around, generate more earnings and do so all while ensuring safety and soundness," said
The enterprise's net worth rose to $98.3 billion from $94.7 billion at the end of the previous quarter, as a result of its ability to retain rather than return funds to the Treasury in order to prepare for an eventual exit from government conservatorship.
Net revenues matched year-ago results at $7.1 billion and were down slightly from the previous fiscal period's $7.3 billion. The latest figure for net revenues was slightly lower than Standard & Poor's Capital IQ consensus estimates in the $7.6 billion range.
"Our results show a steady revenue stream, mainly driven by guarantee fee income," President and CEO Priscilla Almodovar said during the earnings call.
She also noted that Fannie recognized $931 million in expenses during the period paid to the U.S. Treasury, the Department of Housing and Urban Development and FHFA for 2011's Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act and affordable housing funds
In addition, the enterprise provided $76 billion of liquidity to single- and multifamily mortgage lenders, helping 287,000 households buy, refinance or rent a home during the period to deliver on its mission, Almodovar said.
"We look forward to our continued partnership with the new administration as we work together to tackle housing affordability," she said.
Fannie's quarterly single-family loan acquisitions, which are a mainstay of its business, totaled $64 billion in the first quarter of 2025, up from a year ago, but down from $85 billion in 2024's final fiscal period.
"Acquisitions continued to be muted due to the mortgage interest rate environment, housing affordability constraints and limited supply," said Chief Financial Officer Chryssa Halley, who noted that Fannie has now been profitable for 29 consecutive quarters despite such challenges.
Purchase loans made up 78% of Fannie's first-quarter acquisitions, which had the following weighted average loan characteristics: a mark-to-market loan-to-value ratio of 50% and a credit score at origination of 753, Halley said.
"Our strong underwriting and servicing standards help to keep our single-family serious delinquency or SDQ rate low at 56 basis points as of the end of March, unchanged from December 2024," she added.
Fannie tracks underwriting and loan performance closely for reasons that include ensuring circumstances that arose due to poor mortgage quality in the Great Financial Crisis don't recur. Fannie was forced into conservatorship during that period.
Pulte has said in social media statements recently that he is heavily focused on fraud prevention to prevent such a circumstance from arising again.
Fannie Mae's stock price was trading at levels between $6.21 and $6.48 on Wednesday morning and had alternately risen slightly and then fallen in the wake of the company's earnings call.
