Freddie Mac posts $2.5bn loss

US residential mortgage provider Freddie Mac today said its loss widened to $2.5 billion in the fourth quarter as the housing and credit crises worsened.

The government-chartered company, the second-biggest provider of US residential mortgage funding, said the net loss increased from $401 million in the year-earlier period. It is coming off a $2 billion loss for the third quarter.

The company lost $3.97 per share in the fourth quarter. Analysts expected the company would post a fourth-quarter loss of $3.05 per share including special items, according to Reuters.

A sharper-than-expected drop in home prices that first sparked a crisis in subprime lending has since tainted the US housing market, hurting Freddie Mac and rival Fannie Mae.

Rising delinquencies and foreclosures have led the companies to write down values of mortgage securities they own and increase reserves to cover their guarantees of payment on bonds held by investors.