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Dow Jones NewsMay 21, 11:41 PM UTC
DJ Trump Teases Possibility of Taking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Public -- WSJ
By Gina Heeb
President Trump said he is giving "very serious consideration" to taking the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public after nearly two decades under government control.
"Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of CASH, and the time would seem to be right," Trump wrote in a social-media post Wednesday night.
The Wall Street Journal previously reported that the Trump administration has been discussing efforts to privatize Fannie and Freddie. The talks have been under way since at least last year. Trump allies and other Republicans view privatization as a way to reduce the country's deficit and return money to taxpayers.
In his post Wednesday, Trump said he would be "making a decision in the near future" after discussions with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director William Pulte and others.
The administration has in recent months considered issuing an executive order on housing that could include directing departments to study privatization of Fannie and Freddie, the Journal previously reported.
The government's stakes in Fannie and Freddie could be valued at hundreds of billions of dollars, bankers estimate. The two firms have been under government control since the 2008 financial crisis, and attempts to release them since then, including during Trump's first term, have been unsuccessful.
Fannie and Freddie bundle and sell mortgages, with a government-backed guarantee to protect investors from losses when homeowners default. That allows banks and others to originate more 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages.
Skeptics have cautioned that privatizing Fannie and Freddie could, if not done carefully, drive away buyers of mortgage-backed securities and lead to higher mortgage rates.
Write to Gina Heeb at gina.heeb@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
May 21, 2025 19:41 ET (23:41 GMT)
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