Bill Pulte on What’s Next for Federal Housing, Conservatorship and Transparency

(From right: Laura Escobar and Bill Pulte, by Anneliese Mahoney)

NEW YORK–“I think federal housing has been underrepresented,” said Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte. “I think this room has been underrepresented historically at the federal level.”

“There really wasn’t a federal housing guy for new home construction or for what is the lifeblood of new home construction, which are mortgages,” he stated, as part of a conversation with 2025 Mortgage Bankers Association Chair Laura Escobar, President of Lennar Mortgage, onstage May 19 during MBA’s Secondary and Capital Markets Conference.

So, what might that philosophy mean for the new director’s approach to running the federal agency? At the simplest level, we may not be calling it “FHFA” for too much longer.

Escobar pointed to the switch–in documents such as press releases–to calling it “U.S. Federal Housing (FHFA).”  

“It’s literally saying what the name is…it’s just federal housing. And so at some point you’ll probably see us drop the FHFA off,” Pulte said. “So it’s just a matter of educating people.”

Some of Pulte’s other priorities also echo such simplification.

“If it’s not in the law, not in the statute, it needs to go,” he said, noting that his agency is doing its own version of a “DOGE effort.” However, “we’ve just got to be sure that we are being safe and sound,” Pulte cautioned.

Escobar also asked Pulte about his simplified communications strategy–he has a habit of sharing news first on X. He said that the choice can help spread transparency as members of the industry seek regulatory certainty.

“What we’re doing is what we’re doing, and if we do it, we’ll share it,” he said. “As long as it’s not jeopardizing safety and soundness.”

While he said that whether the GSEs will exit conservatorship under the Trump administration is ultimately the president’s decision, Pulte expressed a desire to make Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac more efficient.

“How do we get this from being a bloated enterprise, and get it on the treadmill, get it running efficiently,” he said. “Because an efficient, well-run Fannie and Freddie is a safe and sound mortgage market.”

And as for other priorities, Pulte pointed to housing supply.

“At Federal Housing, we’re really trying to think about, ‘What can we do to unlock the existing supply while also encouraging new housing supply,’ ” he said, noting that inflation has weighed on the housing market in recent years.

“I’m hopeful [President Donald Trump] is very successful with his inflation fight. I think he is. I think he’ll continue to be,” Pulte said. “I’m very optimistic for the housing market, and I’m very optimistic about the economy and I’m very optimistic about the president.”