Freddie Mac (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) is a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) that was created to promote stability and affordability in the housing market by increasing the availability of mortgages. Like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac purchases mortgages from lenders and either holds those mortgages in its portfolio or bundles them into mortgage-backed securities and sells them to investors.
Freddie Mac’s mission is to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the U.S. housing market by purchasing mortgages from banks and other lenders and either holding these mortgages in its portfolio or packaging them into mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that are sold to investors on the open market.
Freddie Mac purchases conventional mortgages, which are mortgages that are not insured or guaranteed by the government, and also provides funding for affordable housing. The goal of Freddie Mac is to promote stability and affordability in the housing market by making it easier for people to get mortgages, especially low and moderate-income borrowers.
Freddie Mac operates under a federal charter and is subject to oversight by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).
Like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac was put under conservatorship by the FHFA in 2008 during the Financial Crisis, and since then they have been operating under the direction of the Federal government, their congressionally mandated duty is to provide liquidity and stability to the US mortgage market, which has been done through the purchase of mortgages from banks and other lenders to support the secondary market, which help to ensure that mortgage credit is available and affordable to families and communities across the nation.