Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are separate, congressionally created housing-finance companies with a similar core role: they buy mortgages from lenders and help turn those loans into cash or mortgage-backed securities (MBS). Both have operated under Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) conservatorship since September 2008. They remain business corporations, but FHFA says the conservator holds the powers of their management, boards, and shareholders. That makes corporate ownership different from day-to-day control.
For investors, “Fannie Mae” or “Freddie Mac” is not a sufficiently precise description of an investment. Common or preferred shares, company debt, and MBS guaranteed by an Enterprise are different securities with different risks. The companies’ MBS guarantees do not guarantee their shares.
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How Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac compare
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac—often called the Enterprises—perform closely related jobs in the U.S. mortgage market. Each buys mortgages from lenders, which can free up lender funds for additional loans. The Enterprises may keep purchased mortgages in portfolios or package them into MBS. For MBS they issue, each Enterprise guarantees timely payment of principal and interest to investors, in return for fees.
Their shared purpose does not make them one company or make every part of their business identical. They have separate corporate identities and operations, and FHFA reports differences in some of their multifamily credit-risk-transfer programs and transactions. The available figures establish common business features and examples of differing structures; they do not show that one company is generally safer, more profitable, or a better investment.
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| Question | Fannie Mae | Freddie Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Core role | Buys mortgages from lenders; may hold them or package them into MBS and guarantee timely principal and interest on its MBS. | Buys mortgages from lenders; may hold them or package them into MBS and guarantee timely principal and interest on its MBS. |
| Corporate status and control | Business corporation under FHFA conservatorship since September 2008; the conservator holds powers of management, boards, and shareholders. | Business corporation under FHFA conservatorship since September 2008; the conservator holds powers of management, boards, and shareholders. |
| 2024 single-family guarantee fee | FHFA reported a 65-basis-point average across both Enterprises on single-family acquisitions in 2024; it did not give a company-specific figure in the cited release. | FHFA reported a 65-basis-point average across both Enterprises on single-family acquisitions in 2024; it did not give a company-specific figure in the cited release. |
| Example of distinct activity | Reported $384 billion in total MBS issuance in 2024. | FHFA describes multifamily credit-risk-transfer transactions and structures that differ from Fannie Mae’s; the cited materials do not provide a matching company-specific total for comparison. |
The shared fee figure and mortgage-market function are useful context, not a head-to-head performance ranking. The 65-basis-point figure is an average across the Enterprises, and Fannie Mae’s 2024 issuance figure is not directly comparable to a Freddie Mac figure that is not stated in the cited material. For company-specific financial comparisons, investors need comparable, current disclosures for the same period and business line.
Ownership is not the same as control
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are not simply ordinary privately controlled companies, and FHFA does not describe them as federal agencies. FHFA says both continue to operate as business corporations while under conservatorship. It appointed itself conservator in September 2008 and says the conservator holds the powers of management, boards, and shareholders. The arrangement therefore separates the existence of corporate and shareholder interests from who exercises governing authority.
Conservatorship is part of a wider federal support framework. FHFA’s history explains that Treasury commitments are intended to ensure Treasury can provide investments so the Enterprises remain solvent and continue supplying mortgage-market liquidity and stability despite lacking risk capital. This context is important when considering the companies’ finances, but it is not a promise that a particular security—especially equity—will produce a particular outcome. In particular, the support framework should not be confused with an unconditional guarantee of Enterprise shares.
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Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Common shares, preferred shares, company debt, and guaranteed MBS are not interchangeable claims. A question about “who owns Fannie Mae” or “who controls Freddie Mac” cannot by itself answer what a particular class of security is worth, what rights it carries, or how it might fare under a future policy change. Those are security-specific legal and financial questions. The cited materials do not establish current share prices, recovery scenarios, future release terms, or the likelihood or terms of a change in conservatorship.
FHFA’s history of the conservatorships and its account of the conservator’s appointment describe the framework. FHFA’s 2025 Scorecard sets out operating priorities under conservatorship, including safe and sound operation, capital, liquidity, and credit-risk transfer. Neither source settles how a future change would affect individual investors.
How the mortgage and MBS business works
1. A lender sells a mortgage
A lender originates a home loan and can sell it to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. The lender generally receives cash or MBS in return. Selling mortgages can replenish funds that the lender can use to make more loans. The Enterprises’ role is thus in the secondary mortgage market: they buy loans after origination rather than functioning simply as the borrower’s original lender.
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2. The Enterprise holds or securitizes the loan
An Enterprise may keep a mortgage in a retained portfolio or pool mortgages into an MBS. Investors in an MBS receive payments connected to the underlying mortgage loans. The Enterprise guarantee is a separate feature of qualifying MBS: it commits the Enterprise to timely payment of principal and interest to MBS investors under the guarantee. It is not a guarantee of the homeowners’ ability to pay, nor a guarantee of the Enterprise’s stock.
3. The Enterprise charges guarantee fees
Guarantee fees compensate the Enterprise for taking on the guarantee obligation. FHFA says these fees are intended to cover projected credit losses from borrower defaults, administrative expenses, and a return on capital. The fee level therefore matters to the economics of the guarantee business, but a fee figure alone does not show whether expected losses, operating costs, and capital needs are adequately covered in a particular period.
FHFA reported that the average guarantee fee across Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on single-family mortgage acquisitions in 2024 was 65 basis points, or 0.65 percent of the loan amount per year. That average was slightly below the 65.5 basis points reported for 2023. FHFA also reported that the Enterprises collectively acquired more than $650 billion of single-family mortgages in 2024. These are historical operating statistics, published by FHFA on December 22, 2025—not 2026 year-to-date figures or forecasts. See FHFA’s 2024 single-family guarantee-fee report.
4. Borrowers may feel the fee through mortgage pricing
Guarantee fees are central to Enterprise revenue, but borrowers should not assume that the fee appears as a separate monthly charge paid directly to Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac. FHFA explains that lenders pay ongoing fees and may pay upfront fees. Lenders often pass the cost of upfront fees through in a somewhat higher mortgage interest rate; ongoing fees are also included in the rate charged to the borrower. The exact effect on an individual mortgage depends on the loan and lender’s pricing. This means a borrower may bear some cost through mortgage pricing without seeing a separately labeled Enterprise fee on a monthly bill.
What recent operating figures do—and do not—show
Fannie Mae’s 2024 Annual Housing Activities Report says the company has greatly reduced its retained mortgage portfolio and shifted toward a more stable, guarantee-fee-driven model. It reported $384 billion in total MBS issuance in 2024. The report also says, citing SIFMA, that average daily trading volume in Agency MBS was second only to U.S. Treasuries. That is a statement about Agency MBS trading, not about the liquidity or trading volume of Fannie Mae stock.
The report’s figure is company-specific and dated: it describes Fannie Mae’s issuance in 2024, not the present pace of issuance and not Freddie Mac’s. Its trading-volume comparison describes a broad market category—Agency MBS—not a guarantee that any individual security can always be sold quickly at a desired price. Read the 2024 Annual Housing Activities Report for the company’s own account.
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Credit-risk transfer (CRT) is another part of the operating picture. The Enterprises use CRT programs to share some mortgage credit risk with private investors. FHFA’s 2025 Annual Report to Congress, published June 15, 2026, says the Enterprises transferred risk on single-family loans with approximately $343 billion in unpaid principal balance and $11.3 billion of risk in force during 2025. Unpaid principal balance is the outstanding loan balance associated with the loans; risk in force is the amount of credit risk transferred under those transactions. The figures describe transferred risk, not a measure of all mortgage risk or a claim that all losses have been shifted away from the Enterprises or the public sector. FHFA also describes differing multifamily CRT approaches and transactions; that evidence shows operational variation, not an overall risk or profitability ranking. See the 2025 Annual Report to Congress.
CRT is therefore a risk-sharing tool, not a reason to treat mortgage credit exposure as finished business. Its scale should be read in the context of the loans and risk covered, the Enterprise’s remaining exposure, and the guarantee-fee and capital framework. The $343 billion unpaid balance and $11.3 billion risk-in-force figures measure different things and should not be compared as if they were two estimates of the same amount.
Identify the security before assessing investment risk
The phrase “invest in Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac” can refer to materially different instruments. Start by identifying the security and the claim it represents. The following distinctions are a framework for asking the right questions, not a current security recommendation.
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1Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errors2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems| Instrument | What the investor is exposed to | Questions that matter |
|---|---|---|
| Common or preferred Enterprise equity | The particular share class and the Enterprise’s financial condition, governance and policy setting. MBS guarantees do not guarantee equity. | What rights and terms apply to this exact class? How do conservatorship and potential policy changes affect the uncertainty? What do current company filings say? |
| Enterprise debt | The debt security’s terms, price, maturity, and the Enterprise’s ability to meet its obligations. This is a creditor exposure, not ownership of the company. | What are the security’s payment terms and risks? How do market prices and interest rates affect its value? What do current disclosures say about the issuer and instrument? |
| Agency MBS guaranteed by an Enterprise | The mortgage pool, the MBS terms, market pricing, and the Enterprise guarantee of timely principal and interest. | What is the pool and security structure? How could borrower prepayments, interest-rate changes, and market liquidity affect timing and value? |
These distinctions prevent a common category error: an investor who buys a guaranteed MBS has not bought stock in its guarantor. An Enterprise guarantee applies to qualifying MBS under its terms; it does not turn an equity investment into a guaranteed one. Likewise, a company bond is debt rather than an ownership stake, and its risk should be assessed using its own terms rather than MBS trading statistics.
Risks that can affect the Enterprises and their securities differently
Mortgage credit risk
If borrowers default, the resulting credit losses matter to the guarantee business. The Enterprises’ guarantee fees are designed to cover projected losses along with administration and a return on capital, while CRT transactions transfer some credit risk to private investors. CRT can reduce some exposure; it does not establish that all risk has disappeared or that taxpayer exposure is eliminated. For equity, credit losses can affect the company’s financial resilience; for guaranteed MBS, the guarantee is relevant to timely principal and interest; for debt, the question is the issuer’s capacity to meet the particular debt obligations.
Fee pricing, costs, and capital
Guarantee-fee economics depend on more than acquisition volume. Fees must be considered alongside realized and projected credit losses, administration, capital needs, and the cost and structure of risk-transfer arrangements. A higher acquisition total or a lower average fee, on its own, does not establish a stronger business. Changes in pricing or capital requirements may influence profitability and resilience, with consequences that need to be evaluated for the specific security being considered.
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Conservatorship and policy uncertainty
FHFA’s role as conservator and the Treasury support framework are fundamental context for both companies. Future changes involving capital, governance, or conservatorship could affect the Enterprises and different securities in different ways. The cited sources do not establish the terms or probability of any future change, so they cannot support a forecast about privatization, release from conservatorship, or shareholder recovery. Treat those as unresolved policy questions rather than as outcomes implied by the companies’ business activity.
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Interest rates, home prices, and market pricing
Interest-rate movements and mortgage-security pricing can change the market value of debt and MBS; mortgage rates also affect borrower refinancing and prepayment behavior, which can alter when MBS investors receive principal. Home prices and borrower performance can affect mortgage credit outcomes. These forces do not map identically to every instrument: the timing and price risks of an MBS differ from a company share’s exposure to business results and policy, and both differ from a debt security’s contractual terms and market price.
Business mix and execution
Single-family and multifamily activity can have different loan characteristics, transaction structures, and risk-sharing arrangements. FHFA’s account of differences between the Enterprises’ multifamily CRT transactions is a reason to compare current company disclosures when evaluating a specific business line. It is not enough, by itself, to conclude that one Enterprise is more profitable or less risky overall.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.A practical way to compare them
- Name the security. Write down whether the subject is common stock, preferred stock, company debt, or an MBS guaranteed by an Enterprise. Do not carry an MBS statistic such as Agency MBS trading volume over to company equity.
- Set the time period and business line. Separate single-family from multifamily activity and compare like periods. The cited operating figures refer to 2024 or 2025 activity; they are not current-year forecasts.
- Check the relevant disclosures. For equity, examine security-specific terms and current company financial and legal disclosures. For debt, examine the particular issue’s terms. For MBS, examine the pool and security structure as well as the applicable guarantee.
- Assess the risk mechanism. Consider mortgage credit losses, guarantee-fee pricing, costs, capital, CRT, market prices, and any instrument-specific payment or timing exposure. Do not treat transferred risk as eliminated risk.
- Separate established facts from policy scenarios. Conservatorship is a current structural fact in the cited materials; a particular future conservatorship outcome or shareholder recovery is not established by them.
This method can clarify what is being compared without pretending the available operating statistics are a complete investment analysis. An investor still needs current, security-specific documentation and must judge risks and objectives independently.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac government agencies?
FHFA describes them as business corporations operating under conservatorship, not as federal agencies. They were congressionally created, and FHFA has held the conservator’s powers of management, boards, and shareholders since September 2008.
Who controls Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under conservatorship?
FHFA says the conservator holds the powers of management, boards, and shareholders. That control arrangement is distinct from the companies’ continuing corporate status and the existence of shareholder interests.
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Does buying a Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac MBS mean owning shares in the company?
No. An MBS is a security backed by mortgage loans and may carry an Enterprise guarantee of timely principal and interest. It is not stock in the guarantor, and the guarantee does not extend to Enterprise equity.
Are guarantee fees charged directly to borrowers as a monthly bill?
Not necessarily as a separate line item. Lenders pay ongoing fees and may pay upfront fees; FHFA says lenders often pass upfront costs through in a somewhat higher mortgage rate, while ongoing fees are also included in the rate charged to borrowers.
Does credit-risk transfer eliminate Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s mortgage risk?
No. CRT programs share some credit risk with private investors, but FHFA’s reported transferred-risk figures do not represent all mortgage exposure and do not establish that all losses or public-sector exposure have been eliminated.
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Which company is safer or a better investment?
The cited operating facts do not establish an overall winner. The answer depends first on the security—equity, Enterprise debt, or guaranteed MBS—and then on its specific terms, current disclosures, business line, market conditions, and risks.
The Bottom Line
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac share a secondary-mortgage-market role and operate under FHFA conservatorship, but that does not make them identical or make every security tied to them equivalent. Separate ownership from control, compare like business lines and periods, and identify whether the investment is equity, Enterprise debt, or guaranteed MBS. The cited operating figures offer context, not a ranking or a forecast of future policy or returns.
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