Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) reported substantial increases in their financial results for 2021 when compared to 2020 and a greatly improved net worth. Fannie Mae’s performance also improved from the third quarter of 2021 to the fourth, but Freddie Mac reported lower results. Fannie Mae had a net comprehensive income of $22.18 billion in 2021, nearly double the 2020 total of $11.81 billion. Fourth quarter results were up 7.0 percent from the prior quarter at $5.19 billion. Net interest income rose by $4.72 billion year-over-year to $29.59 billion and was 9.0 percent higher quarter-over-quarter at $7.59 billion. Fee and other income fell 46 percent from the third quarter to $60 million and was 22 percent lower for the year at $361 million. Credit related income shifted from an expense of $855 million in 2020 to revenue of $5.10 billion last year, driven by actual and forecasted home price growth, an increase in the volume of redesignations, and a reduction in expected losses occasioned by the pandemic. Single-family acquisition volume was $1.4 trillion in 2021 with purchase acquisitions accounting for $451.30 billion, the highest on record. Almost half of the purchase acquisitions involved first-time homebuyers. Refinance acquisitions dropped from $947.8 billion in 2020 to $903.7 billion. At the end of December, the company had 117,440 loans in forbearance , 0.7 percent of its single-family guaranty book of business. This is down from 3.0 percent at the end of 2020. The single-family delinquency rate declined to 1.25 percent at the end of the fourth quarter from 1.62 percent the prior quarter, but seriously non-current loans increased over that period as loans exited from forbearance and entered trial loan modifications. That rate was 0.81 at the end of the reporting period.
