President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that he plans to decide soon whether or not to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and make them public companies.
“I am giving very serious consideration to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public,” he wrote on Truth Social, adding that he’ll “be making a decision in the near future.”
“Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of CASH, and the time would seem to be right. Stay tuned!” he concluded.
The Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac) are government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) in the U.S. that play a key role in the housing finance system.
A GSE is a financial institution created by Congress and designed to enhance the flow of credit to specific parts of the economy, such as housing, agriculture, or education.
More importantly, while GSEs are indeed privately owned, they’re federally chartered, meaning they operate with a public mission while functioning as for-profit corporations.
Created in 1938, Fannie Mae in particular purchases mortgages from lenders, packages them into mortgage-backed securities (MBS), and then sells these securities to investors. This liquidity that this creates lets lenders issue more home loans.
Established in 1970, Freddie Mac meanwhile purchases mortgages, securitizes them, and guarantees the timely payment of principal and interest on its MBS.
Both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into conservatorship by the Bush administration amid the financial crisis in 2008 to stabilize the housing market.
But Republicans have long argued that the conservatorship should be ended. In fact, the first Trump administration tried to do exactly that but failed due to legal/regulatory hurdles, lack of congressional support, economic risks, and political opposition from Democrats.
According to The Wall Street Journal, new talks about privatizing Fannie and Freddie have been occurring since at least last year.
“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 originally reported in March.
When Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) Director William Pulte assumed his role in March, he fired a bunch of people while installing several of his own.
I spent the weekend speaking with some great leaders at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. There are some really great people inside of these businesses, and the good news for them is there is a lot of upward mobility, to earn and grow MORE!
— Pulte (@pulte) March 16, 2025
“At the FHFA, at least dozens have been placed on administrative leave,” the Journal reported. “Some employees were told to go to an old cafeteria space, where they were placed on indefinite leave, according to a person familiar with the matter. The FHFA had more than 700 employees in 2024.”
Meanwhile, a Trump ally laid out a plan by which the federal government could transfer ownership of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to a sovereign-wealth fund that President Trump has expressed interest in creating.
.@SecScottBessent on President Trump’s executive order to create a Sovereign Wealth Fund: “He’s going to be the first President in generations who is going [to] create assets for the American people, not just debt.” pic.twitter.com/CVGywJgTVa
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 19, 2025
The good news is that privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would reportedly generate quite a windfall for the government.
“One proposal circulated in recent months estimated that the privatized entities would be valued above $330 billion, with the government’s stake at more than $250 billion,” according to the Journal.
“Under that plan, Fannie and Freddie would raise an additional $20 billion to $30 billion from new investors, akin to an initial public offering. A raising of that size would put it on par with the largest IPOs of all time,” the report continues.
Responding to Trump’s Wednesday Truth Social post, a number of conservatives agreed with the plan.
Look:
This is 15 years overdue
— Nixon’s Head (@Nixons_Head_) May 21, 2025
Good. They are so inefficient now it is ridiculous
— Eric (@indminded135) May 21, 2025
Yes, it should be done! Never made any sense and did much damage to the real estate market, which should not include the government.
— Donn F. Flipse (@DonnFFlipse) May 22, 2025
Should be done. Government funded mortgage entities are a terrible idea.
Another of FDR’s big government disasters.
— Jason Fischer (@redfisch19) May 21, 2025
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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