FHFA

A decade after the credit crisis, investors are returning to where it all began. The mortgage sector, blamed in large part for the near-collapse of the global financial system, is now seen by many as a high-quality market forged by fire.

The agency’s director has been under pressure to quit as he is investigated for sexual harassment allegations, but an agency spokesperson says he still plans to testify at a housing finance hearing slated for later this month.

The federal conservatorship of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was never supposed to be permanent. Leaving the situation unresolved keeps the agencies undercapitalized and taxpayers exposed to their risk.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency issued a proposal Wednesday that would require mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to align their policies on cash flows for current mortgage-backed securities, and eventually for a uniform security when it is implemented next year.

The proposal by Reps. Jeb Hensarling and John Delaney is a sign that a bipartisan consensus is building on how to move on from Fannie and Freddie.

Freddie Mac is promoting Executive Vice President David Brickman to president and will consider him among possible candidates to be the agency's next CEO after Don Layton retires next year.

The Treasury Department and a key housing regulator are preparing to fill a second possible vacancy atop a U.S.-controlled mortgage giant, a move that could strengthen the Trump administration's hand in addressing unfinished business from the 2008 credit crisis.

Maybe political winds or another downturn will spark housing finance reform. But 10 years after the conservatorships began, the companies are still in perpetual limbo.

Home prices climbed 6.5% in the second quarter from a year earlier, a slower pace that adds to signs of a cooldown in the market.

The agency said the market for larger rental investors may not need additional liquidity from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.