The numbers

Fannie Mae reported net income of $4.0 billion for the second quarter of 2026, up from $3.7 billion in the first quarter, and said it was the company's 34th consecutive profitable quarter. Net worth rose to $116.5 billion as of June 30, from $112.7 billion three months earlier — an increase the company said amounted to a $103.0 billion gain since the start of 2020. Net revenues rose to $7.6 billion from $7.3 billion in the first quarter. Fannie Mae calculated an illustrative return on average required common equity tier 1 capital of 10.8 percent, up from 10.4 percent in the prior quarter.

The company attributed the earnings increase to higher net revenues — driven by higher net interest income from its retained portfolios and higher net deferred guaranty fees, plus a shift from fair-value losses to investment gains — partly offset by a larger credit loss provision. William J. Pulte, the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Fannie Mae's board, said the results were up 20 percent year over year.

What the business actually did

Fannie Mae said it provided $125 billion of mortgage market liquidity in the quarter, supporting the financing of about 417,000 home purchases, refinancings and rental units — roughly 201,000 purchases, 117,000 refinances and 99,000 rental units. Close to 110,000 of the purchase transactions, or 55 percent of single-family purchase acquisitions, involved first-time homebuyers. More than 80 percent of the multifamily units financed were affordable to renters earning less than the area median income, the company said. Its foreclosure-prevention actions let more than 21,000 homeowners stay in their homes during the quarter.

The guaranty book of business stood at $4.1 trillion, unchanged from the first quarter, and the administrative expense ratio ticked up to 10.7 percent from 10.2 percent. Chief Financial Officer Chryssa Halley described the quarter as reflecting the company's "large, stable revenue base and continued expense and capital discipline," calling net income the highest in more than a year.

Still a ward of the government

Fannie Mae remains in the federal conservatorship it entered in September 2008, now approaching its eighteenth year, with its retained earnings still building toward the net-worth sweep terms negotiated with Treasury. The company's results are also shaped by the accounting quirks of that status: net income moves with mark-to-market swings on derivatives and guaranty assets that do not necessarily reflect changes in the underlying mortgage business.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac entered conservatorship on September 6, 2008, and each signed a Senior Preferred Stock Purchase Agreement with Treasury the following day. Treasury's original funding commitment of $100 billion per company was raised to $200 billion in a May 2009 amendment, and the agreements gave Treasury warrants for up to 79.9 percent of each company's common stock on a fully diluted basis, according to FHFA's own account of the agreements' history. A January 2021 amendment further restructured the terms, and Treasury reported at the time that $254 billion of its combined funding commitment to both companies remained undrawn. Fannie Mae's second-quarter filings do not indicate any additional draw on that commitment.

The persistence of profits at this scale — 34 consecutive quarters — has kept alive a long-running policy debate in Washington over whether and how to release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from conservatorship, a question that carries direct implications for mortgage pricing and the government guarantee that underlies most U.S. home loans. Pulte's dual role atop FHFA and the Fannie Mae board reflects the Trump administration's more hands-on posture toward the GSEs' near-term direction, though the company's public filings do not themselves set out a release timeline.