Freddie Mac Reports Quarterly Profit of $2.9B

A turnaround in housing helped drive ""Freddie Mac"":http://www.freddiemac.com/ to a $2.9 billion profit in the third quarter, the GSE ""reported"":http://www.freddiemac.com/investors/er/pdf/2012er-3q12_release.pdf.

Freddie Mac's net earnings dipped slightly under the $3.0 billion reported for Q2, but it helped keep the company from making any additional Treasury draws. In a report released in October, the ""Federal Housing Finance Agency"":http://www.fhfa.gov/--Freddie's conservator--said the GSE is not expected to need any more draws from the Treasury starting in 2013.

In addition, Freddie's comprehensive income of $5.6 billion in Q3 allowed it to pay a $1.8 billion dividend on senior preferred stock.

Year-to-date, Freddie Mac's net income and comprehensive income totaled $6.5 billion and $10.3 billion, respectively, at the end of September. The company's net worth was $4.9 billion, up $3.8 billion from Q2, according to the quarterly filing.

""Freddie Mac's strong financial performance this quarter was driven by favorable market conditions, including the continued improvement in the housing market, as well as our ongoing efforts to minimize losses on our legacy book,"" said Freddie Mac CEO Donald H. Layton.

Freddie's inventory of delinquent loans is at the lowest level in two years, Layton noted, and its higher quality new book of business now makes up 60 percent of its portfolio.

The single-family serious delinquency rate was 3.37 percent at the end of the quarter, down from 3.45 percent at the end of Q2. While the seriously delinquency rate is higher than it was in years prior to 2009, it is significantly lower than the rate for the entire U.S. mortgage market-7.31 percent at June 30, 2012, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association's National Delinquency Survey.

Meanwhile, the multifamily delinquency rate remained unchanged quarter-to-quarter at 0.27 percent.