Recently much has been written about the fate of the Federal
Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and its role as conservator over Fannie Mae and
Freddie Mac. Since 2009 the FHFA has been both Fannie and Freddie’s regulator
and has overseen the direction of both organizations. During that time, the FHFA has ensured that the
primary function of both Fannie and Freddie is not profit maximation, but instead
facilitation of the secondary mortgage market. The FHFA has set portfolio retention
limits, set volume caps for lenders and determined guarantee fees, among other things.
Under the oversight of the FHFA, both government-sponsored entities (GSE’s) repaid
their debts and once again became profitable. Additionally, both organizations have lowered their
respective risk portfolios. In light of a 2021 Supreme Court decision in Collins
v. Yellen and the advent of a second Trump presidency, there is some
renewed rhetoric around the two GSE’s leaving conservatorship and the oversight
of the FHFA.
