Fannie and Freddie Don't Meet Two Affordable Housing Goals: FHFA

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac failed to achieve their low-income and very low-income single-family home purchase goals for 2015, the Federal Housing Finance Agency annual housing report said.

The findings are preliminary and both government-sponsored enterprises have an opportunity to provide additional data to the FHFA before it makes a final determination.

Both GSEs did achieve the low-income home purchase goal and subgoal as well as the low-income refinance goal. They also achieved their multifamily goals.

The benchmark level for the low-income home purchase goal, mortgages that were originated for families with income equal to or less than 80% of the area median, is 24%. Freddie Mac reached 22.3% and Fannie Mae 23.5%, FHFA said.

For the very low-income home purchase goal, mortgages that were originated for families with income equal to less than 50% of the area median, the benchmark is 6%. Freddie Mac achieved 5.4% and Fannie Mae achieved 5.6%.

Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have worked with lenders and private mortgage insurers to create low-down-payment programs. In September, New American Funding and Alterra Home Loans started a pilot with Freddie Mac called Your Path, which used the Home Possible program as a starting point and then expanded on its criteria. Wells Fargo came out in May with its yourFirst Mortgage, a variation on Fannie Mae's HomeReady loan.

"Freddie Mac has made a long-term commitment to making housing more affordable for families across America. We continue to build on efforts already under way, including growing our pilot programs with selected customers and industry partners to find new ways to reach underserved borrowers, and expanding our Home Possible low-down-payment mortgage program," the company said in an email.

Fannie Mae said it had no comment at this time.

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