FHFA Releases Credit Risk Transfer Progress Report; Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac Transfer $49 Billion in Risk to Investors

Lending FHFA Fannie Mae Freddie Mac

On March 27, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) released its Credit Risk Transfer Progress Report, presenting a comprehensive overview of the status and volume of credit risk transfer transactions to the private sector for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) through year-end 2016 in both the single-family and multifamily market. As outlined in the progress report, since the beginning of the Enterprises’ Single-Family Credit Risk Transfer Programs in 2013 through December 2016, the Enterprises have transferred $49 billion in credit risk to private investors, amounting to about 3.4 percent of $1.4 trillion in unpaid principal balance. In 2016, the Enterprises transferred about $18 billion worth of credit risk. Transfers include “credit risk transfers via debt issuances, insurance/reinsurance transactions, senior‐subordinate securitizations, and a variety of lender collateralized recourse transactions.” The Multifamily Credit Risk Transfer Program also plays a role in the Freddie Mac business model where “virtually all credit risk is transferred to investors through subordinated bonds structured to absorb credit risk.” Freddie Mac issued bonds on $57 billion of multi-family production in 2016, and Fannie Mae transferred approximately $9.4 billion of loans to the reinsurance industry. The report also examines the role of primary mortgage insurance in credit risk transfer transactions and the Enterprises’ debt issuances.