Pulte: GSE stock offering 'as early as the end of 2025'

A potential government-sponsored enterprise stock offering President Trump and his team have been "opportunistically evaluating" could be done on a near-term basis, US Federal Housing Director Bill Pulte confirmed late Monday.

That offering for an entity that Pulte and Trump have called the Great American Mortgage Corporation "could be as early as the end of 2025," Pulte said in an X post. Pulte, who heads the entity traditionally known as the Federal Housing Finance Agency, has a practice of using social media to make early announcements about policy inclinations.

Industry groups are watching Pulte's plans for the GSEs closely and advocating for their interests given Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy a large number of loans in the market, with the two of them advocating for them to return to an old role buying mortgage-backed securities.

Industry groups call for a return to MBS buying, with limits

In a letter addressed to Pulte and the Treasury, which plays a role in the conservatorship the GSEs have been in since the Great Financial Crisis, the Community Home Lenders of America and the Independent Community Banker of America advocated for this on Tuesday.

A return to the pre-crisis practice of buying MBS is one method a recent Stanford Institute Institute for Policy Research report and other sources have identified as a strategy which could lower primary mortgage rates by reducing spreads between those bonds and treasuries.

The spread recently has been around 222 basis points, above a long-run average closer to 140-170, according to the two trade groups.

Scott Olson, executive director of the CHLA, said in a press release that this is why the two groups have "joined together to ask Treasury and FHFA for action to bring down mortgage spreads back to historical levels."

"Having the GSEs buy MBS would be both effective and prudent," he said, noting that it would "help today's young families afford homeownership." 

Stanford researchers noted that if Fannie and Freddie resume buying MBS, they may want to avoid the kind of risk on their balance sheet that forced them into conservatorship.

The MBS buying the two groups advocate for would have guardrails unlike the unlimited authority the enterprises previously had prior to 2008.

The enterprises would "buy MBS only when the spread was elevated about 170 basis points," and the amount "would be capped at $300 billion for each GSE," the CHLA and ICBA wrote. 

"Such a policy could reduce the cost of a mortgage by up to 30-35 basis points, a meaningful interest reduction that would help more young families and boost overall US growth accordingly," they said.

Current portfolio caps are $225 billion for each GSE, and combined they have used just $204 billion of this capacity. Collectively they could increase their holdings by $246 billion under existing rules, the two groups noted.

Pulte and his counterpart at the Treasury, Scott Bessent, have encouraged input from stakeholders on plans for Fannie and Freddie.

How Pulte plans to donate his salary

The FHFA director also announced on Tuesday that he will be redirecting his salary to wounded veterans as a donation, starting with his last pay period.

"Working in the most consequential administration in history to restore the American dream of homeownership is all the reward one needs," Pulte said in a press release.

Pulte has owned a wide range of investments and his net worth is in the $200 million-plus range, according to a standard disclosure form associated with his confirmation earlier this year posted by Politico.

The FHFA had not immediately responded to an inquiry requesting more details about the donation amount and what groups or individuals might be the recipients.

PulteGroup, a building business the FHFA director has family ties to, has donated "mortgage free" homes to wounded veterans living with disabilities through a program called Built to Honor. Pulte said during a hearing prior to his confirmation that he sold all his stock in that company.

Recently President Trump called upon Fannie and Freddie, who buy loans that finance new homes, to spur builders to create more homes at a lower cost. Pulte has announced that he has been working on disclosures that could be the start of a move to that end.