The president said he would consult with members of his Cabinet before reaching a final decision.
President Donald Trump said on May 21 that he is “giving very serious consideration” to taking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public.
The two mortgage giants offer liquidity, stability, and affordability to America’s home mortgage market and have been under government control for years.
In a Wednesday evening social media post, Trump said he would consult with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte before making a final decision “in the near future.” Pulte has been serving as chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac since March 14.
“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!” President Trump said in a post on Truth Social.
Some Republicans have long pushed for ending the government conservatorship placed on Fannie and Freddie in response to their role in the 2008 financial crisis, which they contributed to by investing in risky loans. President Trump tried to release them from government control during his first term but was unsuccessful.
“My Administration would have sold the government’s common stock in these companies at a huge profit and fully privatized the companies,” Trump wrote in a 2021 letter to Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) after leaving office. “My Administration was denied the time it needed to fix this problem.”
The government shares in Fannie and Freddie could be valued somewhere in the hundreds of billions of dollars, bankers estimate, and some have said the privatization of the two government-sponsored entities could reduce the deficit and return money to taxpayers.
Others, like investment management firm DoubleLine Capital, have pointed to the complexity involved in the process, as it would take all three branches of government.
Earlier this year, the firm said privatizing Fannie and Freddie “would carry significant execution risks and could adversely affect the secondary mortgage market, which could drive primary mortgage rates much higher.”
The two entities buy mortgages from lenders and either hold the mortgages in their portfolios or sell them as mortgage-backed securities, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie and Freddie.
By Jacob Burg
