Freddie Touts AH Goal Success

Freddie Mac says it exceeded its affordable housing goals for 2003, even though the secondary-market agency had indicated late last year that it would be a "stretch" due to the record level of refinancings.The federally mandated AH goals require that 50% of Freddie Mac's and Fannie Mae's loan purchases benefit low- and moderate-income homeowners. Freddie said 51.1% of its single-family and multifamily loan purchases met the AH goal. Fannie Mae has not reported its results yet, but a spokeswoman said they expect to meet the goals. The Department of Housing and Urban Development sets the AH goals to encourage the two government-sponsored enterprises to purchase loans made to low-income and minority families. In 2003, Freddie purchased 5.5 million loans totaling $826 billion, including $106 billion in financing for 700,000 minority families, the company said. Freddie Mac can be found online at http://www.freddiemac.com.