Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director Bill Pulte posted a series of comments on X today that offered somewhat unusual messaging on how the regulatory agency is operating.
Pulte first declared, “After 4 years of the housing industry being asleep, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are officially ‘back in business’, ready to grow, and actively financing borrowers!” However, he never explained what “back in business” meant, nor was there any data to affirm his assertion of “the housing industry being asleep” since 2021.
Pulte then posted, “We do not foresee any more executive leadership changes at Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac. Our focus will now turn to growth, making homes more affordable, rooting out mortgage fraud, & providing great career opportunity to those who make Fannie & Freddie great American Icons, again!”
The next X message from Pulte said, “Sometimes, insurance fraud can go along with mortgage fraud. Both need to be looked at, strongly.” Again, details were lacking – specific data on housing-related fraud has not been forthcoming since Pulte took office.
The fourth and final X message from Pulte stated, “We are actively working on new programs and new products at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. If you have ideas on what to do differently, please reach out! Innovation is the hallmark of American business, and we intend on bringing that to Fannie & Freddie, all safely and soundly!” However, Pulte never explained the process of submitting ideas for new programs and products, nor is there any precedence for a federal regulator to solicit ideas from the general public on how it should operate.
The messages were all posted to Pulte’s personal X account, which he has used exclusively for communications purposes since becoming appointed as FHFA director. The FHFA’s X account reposted only the second and fourth of Pulte’s messages.
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