The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, a key participant in the U.S. secondary mortgage market, primarily acquires residential mortgage loans — encompassing both individual homes and multi-unit properties — from originating lenders. It also strategically invests in various mortgage-backed financial instruments and direct mortgage loans. Its operations are structured around two distinct divisions: Single-family and Multifamily. The Single-family division is responsible for buying, pooling into securities, and insuring mortgages for individual homes. It also oversees the associated credit risk, manages its portfolio of related investments, handles securitization processes for single-family assets, and conducts treasury operations. Its diverse client base includes mortgage banks, various commercial and community banking institutions, credit unions, housing finance bodies, savings institutions, and other non-depository financial entities. Conversely, the Multifamily division focuses on the acquisition, sale, securitization, and underwriting of loans and securities tied to multi-unit residential developments. This involves issuing specialized instruments such as multifamily K and SB certificates, as well as other structured finance and credit risk transfer products, alongside providing additional mortgage-related assurances. This segment caters to a broad spectrum of institutional clients, including banks, insurance firms, asset managers, central banks, pension funds, governmental bodies at state and local levels, real estate investment trusts (REITs), brokers, dealers, and a variety of lending institutions. Established in 1970, the corporation maintains its headquarters in McLean, Virginia.
