It’s hard to believe we’re more than halfway through 2025. Freddie Mac has made excellent progress thus far, providing more than $100 billion in liquidity to the mortgage market through more than 1,000 lenders. Further, more than half of the approximately 300,000 single-family loans we financed in the first quarter supported first-time homebuyers, continuing a two-year trend.

We achieved these gains due to our focus on three key business priorities:

  • Serving the market in a great way.
  • Reducing the cost of housing, specifically the cost to originate a loan.
  • Strengthening safety and soundness, with a focus on identifying and preventing fraud.

These are in addition to our continued emphasis on finding and retaining the best talent to support our lenders and partners.

While so much of what we do is focused on at least one of these priorities, one area of our work encapsulates all three: our continued investment in technology to streamline the origination process, reduce friction and help our lenders to do business with us more efficiently and cost-effectively.

Freddie Mac’s commitment to investing in technology has been a cornerstone of our business approach since we pioneered automated underwriting 30 years ago. We have continued that legacy with Loan Product Advisor® (LPA®), our automated underwriting system. Over the years we have evolved LPA, introducing additional technology enhancements that improve efficiency for lenders, reduce pain points, better manage risk and save money for lenders and borrowers alike. For example, automated collateral evaluation (ACE) appraisal waivers have saved families over $2 billion in appraisal costs since their launch in 2017.

The innovation has continued as we adapt to modern-day reality. For many people, the working landscape has changed dramatically over the last two-plus decades. Fewer people are in traditional 9-to-5 roles, and many working in the gig economy have irregular income. To address these shifts, we have significantly advanced our technology to support potential borrowers with variable income.

Our automated capabilities allow lenders to verify a borrower's assets, income and employment status by examining bank data. LPA can assess monthly cash flow activity and paystub details through direct deposit. Additionally, it can review a borrower’s bank account data to identify a history of positive monthly rent payments and consider it as part of our loan decisioning process. 

The advancements in LPA are bolstered by a growing fintech community and established loan origination platforms that integrate LPA’s features with daily loan production tools.

We recently introduced LPA Choice, offering lenders valuable insights into our purchase requirements for certain loans. This helps loan officers to make quicker, more informed and actionable decisions that meet our standards. In just a few months, this has assisted lenders in qualifying an additional 18,000 borrowers for mortgages, while emphasizing safety and soundness.

Furthermore, the new Freddie Mac Income Calculator — an online, free-to-use tool — allows lenders to calculate borrower income more accurately, improving loan quality. We will continue to expand this calculator with additional income sources, enhancing our ability to assess diverse income streams.

These digital enhancements provide tangible benefits. And lenders who utilize LPA’s digital tools experience cost savings, reduced cycle times and increased customer satisfaction.

KeyBank serves as an excellent example of how implementing LPA can drive business growth and savings. With guidance from Freddie Mac’s LPA experts, KeyBank operationalized LPA in under a year. By employing LPA's asset and income modeler (AIM), KeyBank accelerated data-driven closings. Within three months, AIM helped automate assessments for over half of the loan applications submitted through LPA, optimizing resources, enhancing process efficiencies and improving borrower experiences.

With the acceleration of artificial intelligence, we are today on the precipice of a new, exciting phase for mortgage finance. As we did 30 years ago, Freddie Mac is leading the way, recently announcing new features in both ACE and LPA Choice that are informed by machine learning that will further increase efficiency and lower costs.

In the months and years ahead, we will build on the foundation we’ve laid with our technology offerings and relationships with trusted partners. We look forward to working with all our lenders and partners to better serve the market, save costs, manage risk and bring the dream of homeownership to millions more families in the years to come.

©2025 by Freddie Mac.