U.S. mortgage giant Fannie Mae said Wednesday it had returned to profitability and would not need Treasury aid for the first time since the financial crisis.

Fannie Mae reported net income of 2.7 billion dollars in the first quarter this year, after a net loss of 6.5 billion dollars in the same period last year and a net loss of 2.4 billion in the previous quarter.

It was the company's first quarterly profit since it was taken over by the government during the 2008 financial crisis, proving the depressed housing market was starting slowly to recover five years after the housing bubble burst, the company said.

Slower home price declines, a drop in serious delinquency rates and reduced inventory of single-family homes were cited as contributors to the improvement, the Washington-based company said in a statement.

Fannie Mae has received about 116 billion dollars so far from the Treasury Department and its sibling company, Freddie Mac, has received 72.3 billion dollars. The two house financing giants have been operating under conservatorship of the U.S. government since September 2008.

The two companies own or guarantee about half of all mortgages in the United States, or nearly 31 million home loans. Along with other federal agencies, they have backed nearly 90 percent of new mortgages in the past few years.

VietNamNet/Xinhuanet