Pooling loans from its Home Possible program into affordable housing MBS could be the next step in Freddie’s impact bond initiative.

LIHTC and GSE programs both use the same flawed system for determining whether a project is “affordable,” revealed David Brickman, former CEO of Freddie Mac.

Although the GSEs have for several months seen declines in the share of investor and second-home mortgage purchases, it remains to be seen whether lenders will continue to deliver these loans into the non-agency market now that the caps have been withdrawn. (Includes two data charts.)

In her first long-form interview since taking over as FHFA acting director, Sandra Thompson insisted that expanding the GSEs’ books of business won’t make them riskier.

FHFA announced the suspension of the caps on the GSEs’ purchase of second-home and investor-property mortgages on Sept. 14. By Sept. 15, the price of these loans jumped more than a percentage point.

The FHFA’s inspector general found that the regulator’s supervision of the GSEs is based on policy statements not standards prescribed by Congress.

FHFA’s decision to repropose certain provisions in the capital framework of the GSEs lures Fannie back to the CRT fold.

Thompson puts her stamp on the agency, even while rumors suggest the Biden administration could replace her with a permanent director.

The mortgage industry’s warnings that the restrictions placed on the GSEs would tighten credit availability for less qualified borrowers were not lost on the Biden administration.

The changes would reduce Fannie’s and Freddie’s capital requirements and increase incentives to issue CRT transactions.