The president wants Fannie and Freddie to buy $200 billion in agency MBS to lower interest rates and reduce the cost of buying a home. Initial reaction from MBS analysts was mixed.
Beginning in December, the Federal Reserve will adjust its balance sheet strategy and no longer reinvest proceeds from payoffs of agency MBS into more MBS.
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said the central bank’s balance sheet hasn’t grown as much as people think, but that MBS sales might be needed to balance the duration of assets and liabilities.
FHFA Director Sandra Thompson said critics of the new schedule of upfront fees for loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac misunderstand the nature and purpose of the price changes.
Sophisticated pricing models for agency MBS, like the Bloomberg MBS Index, are subject to various sorts of model error. Experts say it takes an expert to know how to use them.