FHFA

Housing advocates say Sandra Thompson, a longtime Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. board member, aimed to keep an eye on risk as she expanded access to credit.

The finalized rule adds flexibility to the capital rules applied to the Federal Home Loan banks to help them extend credit to their members.

If Thompson had opted against resigning, President-elect Donald Trump would have been able to fire her quickly after his Jan. 20 inauguration due to a US Supreme Court decision that made it easier to remove the FHFA director.

Freddie Mac shares rose to $4.14 at 12:30 p.m. in New York Friday, Fannie Mae's stock climbed to about $4.23, each up 22% from the previous day's close.

Even as annual home value growth levels out and the pace slows, prices are still rising and reached new records in October, two separate tracking measures disclosed.

Only 5% of homeowners in designated disaster-assistance areas were required to hold flood insurance, according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency's dashboard.

Releasing the GSEs from government conservatorship is on the agenda for the incoming Trump administration. Doing so could threaten the 30-year fixed rate mortgage.

The latest plans include details on promoting housing development in underserved areas and increasing secondary market access to rural institutions.

Expanded data shows home prices rose over 5% annually at the end of the third quarter, prompting the FHFA to boost mortgage loan limits accordingly.

Existing efforts to reform the Federal Home Loan Bank System may look dead on arrival in a Trump administration, but the proposed Department of Government Efficiency may not be able to resist such low-hanging fruit.