A federal housing regulator initiated a major shake-up Monday at two giant government-controlled mortgage finance firms that drive much of the U.S. housing market.
The Federal Housing Finance Agency, led by its director, William Pulte, ousted 14 members of the boards of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in a surprising move that was disclosed in regulatory filings late Monday.
The F.H.F.A. is the primary regulator for Fannie and Freddie, which have been under federal government control since the 2008 financial crisis.
Monday’s filing listed new board members named by Mr. Pulte, who will serve as board chairman of each firm.
The filings offered no explanation for the shake-up, but shortly after he was confirmed by the Senate, Mr. Pulte hinted in a series of posts on social media that changes were coming to both Fannie and Freddie. In one post, he wrote, “Make Mortgages Great Again.” And in another, he wrote there would be “tremendous opportunities for people who perform at Fannie and Freddie.”
Mr. Pulte is an heir of William Pulte, who was the founder of PulteGroup, one of the largest American home builders.
Mr. Pulte is taking over the F.H.F.A. while some are pushing the Trump administration to release Fannie and Freddie from government control and restore their independence as publicly traded companies.
Fannie and Freddie are government-chartered companies that historically operated independently but with federal backing.
Both Mr. Pulte and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have said they favor ending the government conservatorship, but they have also said they would not rush into any decision.
One obstacle to ending the conservatorship is that the rate on the average 30-year mortgage remains high, at about 6.7 percent. That, in addition to the high cost of housing, is deterring young Americans from buying homes.
Fannie and Freddie do not actually make any home loans. Rather, they buy mortgages from banks and package them into securities that are sold to big investors. In creating those mortgage-backed securities, Fannie and Freddie guarantee them for bond investors.
It was that guarantee that in part led the federal government to take over the mortgage firms in August 2008, to avert a total collapse of the mortgage market.