William Pulte has been confirmed as the new director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, regulator of government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Pulte, who will serve for a term of five years, was confirmed by the U.S. Senate in a bipartisan vote of 56 to 43 on Friday.
President Donald Trump nominated Pulte to serve as director of the agency in January.
Pulte runs a private equity firm and is the founder and chairman of the Detroit Blight Authority, a nonprofit that works to refurbish blighted neighborhoods.
He is the grandson of the late William Pulte, founder of Pulte Homes, which operated in Detroit in the 1950s.
Now that he is confirmed by the Senate, Pulte is expected to start the ball rolling on bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac out of conservatorship and privatize them.
“I am honored by President Trump’s trust as we usher in a Golden Age of housing and mortgage accessibility,” Pulte says in a statement. “Safe and sound housing markets are the foundation of American homeownership, so I will be laser-focused on the safety and soundness of our regulated entities as we ensure that the dream of homeownership becomes a reality for as many Americans as possible.”
The FHFA was created by the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 to oversee Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Home Loan Bank System, which collectively provide more than $8.5 trillion in funding for U.S. mortgage markets and financial institutions.
In a statement, Bob Broeksmit, CMB, MBA’s president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), applauded the Senate leadership for its swift action in scheduling Pulte’s confirmation vote.
“Our members stand ready to work with Director Pulte and his team, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac staff, the Federal Home Loan Banks, and other industry stakeholders to increase affordable and sustainable homeownership and rental housing opportunities for all Americans while ensuring a robust secondary mortgage market for single-family and multifamily lenders of all sizes and business models,” Broeksmit says.
Seth Appleton, president of U.S. Mortgage Insurers (USMI), congratulated Pulte on his Senate confirmation “to lead FHFA and oversee critical financial institutions that facilitate more than $8 trillion in funding for the U.S. housing market.”
“The private mortgage insurance industry has long worked with FHFA, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Federal Home Loan Banks, and other housing finance stakeholders to reduce barriers to homeownership and ensure access to affordable and sustainable mortgage credit backed by private capital,” Appleton says. “In fact, private mortgage insurance has helped nearly 40 million low down payment borrowers become homeowners, $1.4 trillion in GSE mortgages currently outstanding have protection from MI coverage, and private mortgage insurers have paid nearly $60 billion in claims since the GSEs entered conservatorship.”
“USMI strongly agrees with Director Pulte’s statement in his nomination hearing that taking risk away from the taxpayers and giving it to the private market is a win and USMI and its members look forward to working with Director Pulte and his team at FHFA to accomplish that goal while also prudently ensuring access to sustainable mortgage credit for first-time homebuyers,” Appleton adds.
The Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) also applauded Pulte’s confirmation, saying in a statement that it “appreciates Mr. Pulte’s commitment to affordable homeownership.”
“We look forward to working with him on issues like preserving a broad base of GSE lenders, which benefits consumers, and taking Fannie and Freddie out of conservatorship in an orderly way,” says Scott Olson, executive director of CHLA.
Buddy Hughes, chairman of the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), says his group stands “ready to work with Director Pulte to help address the nation’s housing affordability crisis by promoting policies that ensure stable and liquid mortgage markets for single-family and multifamily housing.”
“Providing builders and home buyers better access to financing will enable home builders to boost the supply of attainable, affordable housing to meet market demand and keep the economy strong,” Hughes says in a statement.