Senate Confirms Bill Pulte As FHFA Director

The U.S. Senate confirmed Bill Pulte as the new head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency in a 56-43 vote.

The FHFA oversees the housing government-sponsored enterprises, or GSEs, including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The Trump administration is expected to try to release Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from conservatorship, a goal of the first Trump presidency that failed. Analysts generally agree that releasing the GSEs without meaningful planning and consensus could cause chaos in the housing market and impact affordability.

Pulte, a businessman whose grandfather founded America’s third-largest homebuilder, PulteGroup, has positioned himself as pro-privatization for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which have been government entities for sixteen years.

But Pulte told CNN that he’s in no rush.

“Fannie and Freddie shouldn’t be in conservatorship forever,” Pulte told CNN on Thursday. “But it’s critical to ensure any discussion about exiting conservatorship needs not only to ensure safety and soundness but how it would affect mortgage rates.”

He has said his priority in overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is ensuring a stable and thriving housing and mortgage market.

“And to this end, any decisions related to if or when Fannie or Freddie are released from conservatorship would involve the President and the Secretary of the Treasury,” Pulte wrote in response to questions from U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).

The Mortgage Bankers Association applauded the appointment.

“Our members stand ready to work with Director Pulte and his team, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac staff, the Federal Home Loan Banks, and other industry stakeholders to increase affordable and sustainable homeownership and rental housing opportunities for all Americans while ensuring a robust secondary mortgage market for single-family and multifamily lenders of all sizes and business models,” MBA’s President and CEO Bob Broeksmit, wrote.

How likely is it that change will take place?

Norbert Michel, vice president and director of the Cato Institute’s Center for Monetary and Financial Alternatives, told The Mortgage Note that it is likely Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will be taken out of conservatorship under Trump.

“I think the administration will move them out of conservatorship partly because they recognize conservatorship wasn’t supposed to be permanent and because that’s the direction things were heading during the first administration,” Michel said.

“I think it will take time, though, and I’d say it will happen later rather than sooner. And I suspect there will be some kind of deal – they’ll rewrite the Preferred Stock Purchase Agreements and adjust the liquidation preference in some way while giving them some kind of capital target timeline.”

Roger Valdez, director at the Center for Housing Economics, agrees that if change takes place, it will take time. Even though U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wants to move forward, he is open to how that happens.

Valdez said people should not expect an immediate change, but instead heightened discussion about how to plan for the future of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

“The situation’s fragile, and any shifts will require planning and consensus, something that the federal government — legislative and executive — are not very good at. I would suspect that the role of the federal government will stay the same; it’s going to be stuck like this for a while,” Valdez said.

Bessent said last week that they will consider taking on the issue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but for right now, the top priority is tax policy.

The U.S. government could lose money by releasing the enterprises, which have been profitable in their years under conservatorship. The combined net worth of Fannie and Freddie was $147 billion as of Q3 2024.

Writer Chuck Green contributed to this article.