Housing That's Affordable

Home is the foundation of our lives. Everyone deserves to have adequate, affordable housing, and research shows that it has positive impacts on, among other things, children’s development, our health, and the economy overall.

Your home is affordable if you spend 30 percent or less of your income on your monthly rent or mortgage payment plus utilities, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). But finding an affordable home is a challenge for millions of households nationwide.

Freddie Mac’s commitment to affordable, adequate housing is central to who we are. Our continuous support – in all economic conditions and for markets that might otherwise be neglected – distinguishes us from private funding sources.

It's in Our DNA

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Promoting housing affordability is more than about fulfilling our charter mission to provide liquidity, stability, and affordability to the U.S. housing market. It extends to what we call our community mission, which starts with our affordable housing goals and contributions to national affordable housing funds, and continues with our added efforts to stabilize communities, prevent foreclosures, responsibly expand credit and educate consumers.

Our commitment also includes our work to meet the affordable housing goals set annually by the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and our contributions to national affordable housing funds. FHFA determined that we met all of our goals in 2016. Based on preliminary information, we also believe that we met all five Single-Family goals and all three Multifamily goals for 2017. FHFA will make a final determination on Freddie Mac’s 2017 performance when market data is released in October 2018.

Our Contributions to Housing Affordability

We work with our customers and the industry to help make housing available and affordable nationwide. In 2017, we helped 2.3 million households buy, refinance, and rent homes; we also helped 75,000 keep their homes. What are some of the specific ways we've made a difference?

For Homebuyers and Homeowners

In 2017, we helped ...

More than

312,000

first-time homebuyers, accounting for almost 44% of our loans

More than

613,000

low- and moderate-income earners become homeowners

Make responsible

homeownership possible with a

3%
down payment

Home means a place of comfort and unity of family. It's a peaceful place to end a long day.

— April – Burbank, CA
There's an undeniable sense of pride that comes with homeownership and the accompanying excitement of being able to make a house a home.

— Andrew – Walker, MI
Buying our first home has allowed us the opportunity to create a home base away from military life where our space can be an expression of our creativity.

— Thomas and Zackery – Spring Valley, CA
It feels so good to own our own home where our kids can grow and make memories. Our life is a big adventure and our home is our base operation center.

— Niluk – Tampa, FL
My home is my refuge. Friends always say my home is warm and cozy and I love that people feel comfortable enough to take their shoes off without being asked.

— Shelly – Washington, DC
It's amazing to have full reign to remodel whatever we please in the home.

— Monica – Lynchburg, VA