Ginnie Mae reported $1.2 billion in profit for fiscal year 2011, an 84% increase over FY 2010 earnings of $541.5 million. The government owned corporation, which securitizes Home Equity Conversion Mortgages and other Federal Housing Administration-insured loans, this year passed Freddie Mac in the volume of mortgage backed securities that it has guaranteed, its executives said.

Posting record earnings due to lower loss provisioning, Ginnie Mae president Ted Tozer said the agency “beefed up” loss reserves in the previous year, but that it was not necessary to do so in 2011.

“Our business is simple, our approach to risk-taking is conservative, and our ability to finance government-insured mortgages is helping to keep the housing market afloat,” Tozer said.

The company reported that it helped finance nearly 60% of all U.S. home purchases in FY 2011.

In 2011, Ginnie Mae issued a total of $263.3 billion in single family mortgage backed securities, surpassing Freddie Mac’s volume of $251.5 billion and becoming the second largest MBS issuer to Fannie Mae.

Written by Elizabeth Ecker