HousingWireHousingWire
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the federal government needs to work on the new tax policy before it can take on the issue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac conservatorship.
“Right now the priority is tax policy,” he said in an interview with Bloomberg on Thursday. “Once we get through that, then we will think about that. The priority for a Fannie and Freddie release — the most important metric I am looking at is any study or hint that mortgage rates would go up. So anything that is done around a safe and sound release is going to hinge on the effect on long term mortgage rates.”
On Thursday, Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner said he would “quarterback” the process to remove the government sponsored enterprises from conservatorship. He described it as an administration priority. The former NFL player said stakeholders from Congress, Treasury and the Federal Housing Finance Agency would all be involved.
With inflation still well above the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, mortgage rates have remained elevated. As of Thursday afternoon, the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage was 7.10%, according to HousingWire’s Mortgage Rates Center.
Economists at the Mortgage Bankers Association are forecasting mortgage rates to be between 6.5% and 7% this year and the Fed to cut the benchmark rate once. A complete tax bill likely won’t be passed until later in the year, according to Isaac Boltansky, an analyst at BTIG.
