- Business
- Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a United States government-sponsored enterprise that provides liquidity, stability, and affordability to the nation's housing finance system by purchasing mortgages from lenders and securitizing them into mortgage-backed securities. Founded in 1938 and headquartered in Washington, D.C., the company operates primarily through its Single-Family and Multifamily segments; it acquires conforming single-family mortgage loans, including low down payment options such as 97% loan-to-value products, HomeReady mortgages for low- to moderate-income borrowers, HomeStyle Renovation mortgages, manufactured housing community loans via MH Advantage, Native American lending programs, down payment assistance initiatives, and shared equity solutions; in the multifamily business, it finances apartment buildings, affordable housing projects, and Near-Stabilization Execution loans for construction or renovation of rental properties nationwide, while capital markets activities involve issuing debt and guaranteeing timely principal and interest payments on its MBS sold to investors. Fannie Mae maintains offices across the United States, including in Boston, Chicago, Philadelphia, Plano, Reston, San Francisco, Urbana, and Washington, D.C., serving homebuyers, homeowners, renters, and lenders with automated underwriting tools like Desktop Underwriter V. 12.0 and income calculators for self-employment or rental properties. In recent developments, Fannie Mae launched an AI-powered Crime Detection Unit in partnership with Palantir Technologies in May 2025 to enhance fraud detection using advanced machine learning for anomalous transactions; it set an $88 billion multifamily loan purchase cap for 2026 to support affordable rental housing; reported $3.9 billion in net income for the third quarter of 2025, marking 31 consecutive profitable quarters with total assets exceeding $4.3 trillion; and faced internal leadership changes in October 2025 when top executives were dismissed amid an investigation into the release of confidential mortgage pricing data.