Washington, D.C. – In accordance with the provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today proposed a rule that would establish new housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) for 2018 through 2020. FHFA is requesting comment on the proposed rule. When finalized, the new goals will replace the current goals which will expire at the end of 2017.
The proposed rule would establish new Single-Family Housing Goals and new Multifamily Housing Goals.
Single-Family Housing Goals:
| Current and Proposed Single-Family Goals (percentage of overall qualified single-family purchases) |
||
|---|---|---|
Single-Family Goals |
Current Benchmark Level
|
Proposed Benchmark Level
|
| Low-Income Home Purchase Goal | 24% | 24% |
| Very Low-Income Home Purchase Goal | 6% | 6% |
| Low-Income Areas Home Purchase Subgoal | 14% | 15% |
| Low-Income Refinance Goal | 21% | 21% |
To meet a single-family housing goal or subgoal, the percentage of mortgage purchases by an Enterprise that meets each goal or subgoal must exceed either the benchmark level set in advance by FHFA or the market level for that year. The market level is determined retrospectively each year, based on the actual goal-qualifying share of the overall market as measured by FHFA based on Home Mortgage Disclosure Act (HMDA) data for that year.
Multifamily Housing Goals:
| Current and Proposed Multifamily Goals (number of multifamily units) |
||
|---|---|---|
Multifamily Goals |
Current Level
|
Proposed Level
|
Low-Income Goal |
300,000 |
315,000 |
| Very Low-Income Goal | 60,000 | 60,000 |
| Low-Income Small Multifamily Subgoal | 2015: 6,000
2016: 8,000 2017: 10,000 units |
10,000 units |
To meet a multifamily housing goal or subgoal, an Enterprise must purchase mortgages on multifamily properties (properties with five or more units) with rental units affordable to families in each category, as well as a subgoal for properties with 5-50 units. FHFA measures Enterprise multifamily goals performance against benchmark levels set by FHFA.
While the Enterprises remain in conservatorship, they continue to have the mission of supporting a stable and liquid national market for residential mortgage financing. FHFA has continued to establish annual housing goals for the Enterprises and to assess their performance under the housing goals each year during conservatorship.
Interested parties are invited to submit comments on this proposed rule within 60 days of publication in the Federal Register. Comments should be submitted to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, Division of Housing Mission and Goals, 400 7th Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20219 or via FHFA.gov.
Link to proposed rule [Note: the proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register].