President indicates a decision on releasing the GSEs to public ownership is coming soon
President Trump signaled his strongest support yet for ending the conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, saying in a social media post Wednesday evening that he’s seriously considering returning the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to public ownership.
The president revealed on Truth Social that he intends to have imminent discussions with members of his cabinet about the matter and said he believes Fannie and Freddie – which have been under government control since the 2008 global financial meltdown – are ready to stand on their own two feet.
“I am giving very serious consideration to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public,” Trump wrote. “I will be speaking with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency [FHFA], William Pulte, among others, and will be making a decision in the near future.
“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of CASH, and the time would seem to be right. Stay tuned!”
The FHFA placed Fannie and Freddie into conservatorship as both entities hemorrhaged cash from exposure to subprime mortgage debt during the financial crisis.
That move was intended to stabilize the housing market and restore investor confidence – but ending the arrangement has long been a Republican priority, including during Trump’s first term when then-FHFA director Mark Calabria pushed to release the GSEs from conservatorship.
The first Trump administration allowed the GSEs to retain some of their earnings to begin rebuilding capital buffers, modifying the so-called “net worth sweep” requiring both entities to funnel almost all profits to the Treasury every year.
Timeline for taking GSEs public remains hazy
It’s unclear how long it would take to end Fannie and Freddie’s conservatorship. Doubts remain over whether the pair can currently survive without substantial government support, and in December National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) vice president of housing finance Jessica Lynch told Mortgage Professional America the GSEs are currently “undercapitalized.”
Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) senior vice president and chief economist Mike Fratantoni, meanwhile, believes it could be several years before Fannie and Freddie are ready for a shift away from majority government ownership.
“The US Treasury has invested hundreds of billions of dollars in these companies and to exit from those positions is going to take some time,” he told MPA, “if they want to do it in a way that doesn’t disrupt the smooth functioning of the market.”
Fratantoni said lenders would benefit from the GSEs behaving more like private companies that government organizations, and highlighted the “frustration” that can arise from excessive regulatory involvement.
FHFA Director Bill Pulte ordered Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac to roll back key housing initiatives, including SPCPs & tenant protections.https://t.co/TL7Xm5F8A3
— Mortgage Professional America Magazine (@MPAMagazineUS) March 27, 2025
At the MBA’s Secondary and Capital Markets conference in New York this week, Pulte described the GSEs as “a bloated enterprise” and said he intended to “get [them] on the treadmill” – but also indicated he would defer to President Trump on a timeline for ending their conservatorship.
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