Will Fannie and Freddie be re-privatized after the November election?
September 30, 2020
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In today’s Daily Download episode, HousingWire covers Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin’s oversight panel endorses Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria’s plan to re-privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
For some background on the story, here’s a summary of the article:
A year ago, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Mark Calabria released the Trump administration’s so-called blueprint to re-privatize mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with the biggest stock offering in history.
Calabria has stuck to the plan, even as a deadly pandemic swept across the nation, killing more than 200,000 Americans and sparking a recession that forced millions of borrowers to seek forbearance plans because they couldn’t pay their bills. Last month, the FHFA endorsed an adverse-market fee that will aid in the “recap and release” of the government-sponsored enterprises at a cost of about $1,400 per refinanced loan, with the fee paid by borrowers.
All of this was done without input from Congress, which chartered both companies decades ago in a bid to expand homeownership and has oversight of their activities.
On Friday, the Financial Stability Oversight Council, which is chaired by Mnuchin, voted unanimously to endorse Calabria’s plan to recapitalize and release the GSEs by executive action – with the caveat that even more capital may be required than the FHFA has called for – and after the vote Calabria made a statement commending FSOC members for their endorsement.
Following the main story, HousingWire covers a report from the Mortgage Bankers Association that shows mortgage applications fell 4.8% last week, and discusses the finalization of two appraisal and capital liquidity rules initiated by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency.
The Daily Download examines the most compelling articles reported from the HousingWire newsroom. Each afternoon, we provide our listeners with a deeper look into the stories coming across our newsroom that are helping Move Markets Forward. Hosted by the HW team and produced by Alcynna Lloyd and Victoria Wickham.
HousingWire articles covered in this episode:
