Housing finance aficionados like the prospect of a GSE exit from conservatorship that includes the retention of the Treasury’s PSPA, especially if done in conjunction with a sovereign wealth fund.
Three former CEOs of the GSEs this week debated the impact of federal conservatorship, what steps must be taken to safely end the oversight and what the GSEs should look like afterwards.
Trump’s nominee to head FHFA didn’t do anything to embarrass himself at his confirmation hearing this week, but he also didn’t demonstrate a deep understanding of housing finance.
Treasury Secretary Bessent’s cautious remarks about the prospect for GSE reform heighten industry skepticism about the release of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from conservatorship.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency in recent years has done a better job than Ginnie Mae in interagency planning for a hypothetical nonbank crisis, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Obstacles like how to deal with the implicit guarantee and excessively high capital requirements make it unlikely that the GSEs will exit conservatorship under Trump, though the chances are higher than before his election.
The debate over how to end the conservatorships of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac hinges on whether rating services would downgrade the GSEs if they exit without an explicit government guarantee.