At a time when costs continue to soar and regulators weigh reforms for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, more than half of the Democratic presidential candidates have talked about housing on the campaign trail.
Regulators want Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to build up massive amounts of capital before being freed from government control. Don Layton, Freddie's departing chief executive officer says that's easier said than done.
In his first public policy speech as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Mark Calabria stressed that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will have to raise significant capital via a public offering and take other steps in order to escape government control.
Two senators, a Republican and a Democrat, have revived legislation that would prohibit Congress from using certain fees collected by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offset unrelated government spending.
A GSE exemption in the bureau’s “qualified mortgage” rule is set to sunset in 2021, and regulators should not try to extend it as some experts have suggested.
New FHFA Director Mark Calabria isn't just charting a future for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, but also fixing problems resulting from the "Qualified Mortgage" exemption for the GSEs and taking a "deep dive" into problems in the mortgage servicing market.
