President Trump has voiced his unconditional support of Bill Pulte following media reports based on anonymous sourcing that claim the director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) has fallen out of favor with the White House.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote, “Congratulations to William J. Pulte, Chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, on the outstanding job he is doing. KEEP MOVING FORWARD, WILLIAM, DON’T LET THE RADICAL LEFT WEAKLINGS STOP YOU!” https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114886865806490349
Pulte, a former private equity executive whose family runs a prominent homebuilding corporation, has gained cable news and social media prominence by repeatedly echoing Trump’s attacks on Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, and in some cases going further by claiming without evidence that Powell is on the verge of resigning.
While Pulte’s profile has increased, so has media criticism. The Wall Street Journal wrote, “His attacks on Powell have irritated some senior administration officials, according to people familiar with the matter. They view it as inappropriate for the FHFA director to weigh in and worry his loose approach could undermine the administration’s efforts to pressure the Fed or intensify the risk of market turmoil.”
The Journal also cited Pulte’s closed-door meeting with industry leaders at a Mortgage Bankers Association conference in May, where he “grew visibly frustrated and sought to move on from the questions” regarding loan level price adjustments, which “critics have blamed for higher mortgage costs, according to people familiar with the matter.”
Asset-Backed Alert went further, citing unnamed sources that claimed Pulte was being intentionally excluded from the administration’s plans to end the federal conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. This report declared that “Pulte is no longer in the good graces of some administration officials” following his surprise declaration that the government-sponsored enterprises will be able to consider VantageScore 4.0’s credit scoring model, citing an unnamed mortgage industry professional who said, “We’re hearing he’s already on thin ice.”
Pulte accepted Trump’s praise on X by stating, “Thank you Mr. President.”
Pulte is a moron, and does not need rates cut. WE NEED LOWER PRICES
Looks like a fake rendering of President Trump in that picture!
Prices coming down would be nice, but don’t count on that happening significantly any time soon. Interest rates in the 5.50% range would create an increase in affordability and sales throughout the country. Just a humble opinion from someone who owned a mortgage company and was in the business for over 40 years
Home prices rise for many reasons. Interest rates are just one reason.
But with really high home prices, even lower interest rates would not solve the affordability problem.
The rising human population is a huge driver (higher housing demands) of rising prices for nearly everything, including homes and food.
The Earth is only a certain size. It is NOT a balloon that you can just “blow air into” to make it bigger. We humans refuse to look at that fact.
There is NOT a housing shortage; there is a Human Surplus problem
YES, I stated the obvious.
If the U.S. had a declining population and fell to half of what it is today, then home prices would fall lower as homes and land became more available. That would be awesome!
Investors are driving up home prices too (because rising human numbers means investors can make a good bet on rising home values as demand rises).
From 2019 to about 2024, nearly 30% of homes were purchased by investor groups.
Some mega-investor groups bought ALL homes within brand new subdivisions, while NO regular buyer got to buy at all.
As long as home prices remain UN-affordable, it would be wise to consider limiting the total number of homes any one person could own, including any partial homeownerships through investment groups.
I think that owning 25 housing units should be enough for any one person, but that can be debated depending upon the value and return on investment.
One family investor group in California owns 22,000 rental units, and that is crazy.
A handful of investor groups owning that thousands of homes is monopolistic and drives home prices higher and rental prices higher too.
Why do you think Billionaires are buying up so much property, homes, rentals, and farm lands?
They want to control the desired real estate that the rising population needs.
Investors will be able to charge higher prices as the population keeps rising.
Is that the fault of investors?
Or is it more the fault of those choosing to have too many children???
(me thinks the later).