Weekly Real Estate News
Summary
FHFA Director Bill Pulte said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are increasing purchases of mortgage-backed securities after combined holdings declined for three straight months. The scale and timing have not yet been formally detailed by FHFA or the enterprises.
Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte said Friday that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are stepping up purchases of mortgage-backed securities, signaling a renewed push by the government-sponsored enterprises to add demand to a market confronting mortgage rates near 7%.
“We are beginning to buy even more, large quantities, as we speak,” Pulte wrote on X on Sept. 18, according to Scotsman Guide and real-time market reports that captured the statement Friday afternoon.
Pulte did not specify the size, timing or composition of the additional purchases. FHFA also had not issued a formal release detailing the program as of Friday evening. That distinction matters: the statement indicates that additional buying is underway, but it does not establish how much Fannie and Freddie will ultimately purchase or how quickly the activity will show up in their retained portfolios.
The move follows President Donald Trump’s January directive calling for up to $200 billion in mortgage-bond purchases by Fannie and Freddie as part of an effort to put downward pressure on mortgage rates. WRE News previously reported that Pulte subsequently gave each enterprise additional flexibility over its mortgage-bond portfolio limits.
The enterprises did build their mortgage-security holdings earlier this year. Fannie Mae’s official monthly data show its agency-securities holdings in the retained mortgage portfolio rising from $71.5 billion at the end of December 2025 to $110.5 billion at the end of April. Fannie’s retained mortgage portfolio overall reached $174.8 billion at the end of April, according to the company’s monthly summaries.
More recent disclosures indicate that the pace did not continue uninterrupted. Scotsman Guide, citing the enterprises’ monthly reports, calculated combined Fannie and Freddie MBS holdings of $155.39 billion at the end of July, down from $161.68 billion in June and $162.38 billion in May. Freddie Mac’s July monthly volume report and Fannie Mae’s July summary are the latest monthly enterprise disclosures available.
That makes Pulte’s Friday statement notable: rather than merely restating the January authorization, he is describing a new increase in purchasing after several months in which combined holdings had moved lower.
For the mortgage market, the potential impact runs through MBS pricing rather than through a direct government setting of consumer mortgage rates. Additional demand for agency mortgage securities can support MBS prices and narrow the spread investors demand over comparable Treasury securities. That can, all else equal, improve the pricing lenders can offer borrowers. Treasury yields, inflation expectations, prepayment risk and broader investor demand remain major determinants of mortgage rates, however, so larger GSE purchases do not guarantee a particular consumer rate.
The timing is significant. Freddie Mac’s weekly Primary Mortgage Market Survey put the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate at 6.95% on Sept. 17, up 19 basis points in a week and at its highest level since January 2025. The increase followed a sharp rise in longer-term Treasury yields and the Federal Reserve’s Sept. 16 decision to raise its policy rate by 25 basis points.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac remain in federal conservatorship, giving FHFA an unusually direct role in decisions affecting their balance sheets and the secondary mortgage market. The next enterprise portfolio disclosures will provide the first clearer indication of the scale of the buying Pulte described Friday.
