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Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac transferred $18 billion of credit risk on $548 billion of mortgages with an unpaid principal balance to the private sector in 2016, according to a Federal Housing Finance Agency progress report issued Monday on its credit risk transfer program.

Through this program, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac now transfer a portion of credit risk to the private sector through a variety of transactions in both the single-family and multifamily markets.

This FHFA report shows that there has been a significant uptick in the number of front-end transactions, but the total credit risk transfer transactions performed in 2016 was about 4 percent.

Last October, NAFCU told the FHFA that its proposals to adopt additional front-end credit risk transfer structures, without safeguards to ensure a level playing field, could force credit unions out of the mortgage market. It provided the agency with specific concerns, including burdensome expenses.

Since the program began in 2013, the FHFA says a total of almost $49 billion of credit risk has been transferred on $1.4 trillion unpaid principal balance.

The FHFA noted that this report will be updated regularly.