NEW YORK - Freddie Mac said on Wednesday it plans to sell about $1 billion of multifamily mortgage-backed securities next week and expects new issues at least quarterly.

The program is meant to provide liquidity, stability and affordability to the multifamily housing market, the government-controlled company said in a statement.

Freddie Mac, the second-largest U.S. home funding provider, hired underwriters led by Deutsche Bank Securities and Goldman Sachs to lead manage the K-004 offering. Pricing is expected on October 7 for settlement on or about October 22 for the securities, known as K Certificates.

The certificates are backed by 46 recently originated multifamily mortgages and are guaranteed by Freddie Mac.

Freddie Mac last sold more than $1 billion in multifamily-backed bonds in early June.

Spurred by our successful offering of K Certificates earlier this year, we have a growing and active pipeline of multifamily loans for securitization, David Brickman, vice president of multifamily and CMBS Capital Markets for Freddie Mac, said in the statement.

The September pipeline grew to almost $3 billion, including loans used in the new offering.

We expect offerings going forward on at least a quarterly basis, which will enable Freddie Mac to continue to provide even greater liquidity to the multifamily housing market, Brickman said.

Previously, multifamily loans were held in Freddie Mac's mortgage investments portfolio rather than packaged as collateral for guaranteed securities sold to investors.

(Reporting by Lynn Adler; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)

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