The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) today published a final rule that establishes new housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) for 2018 through 2020 in accordance with the provisions of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008. The new goals replace the previous goals, which were in effect through the end of December 2017.
The final rule establishes single-family and multifamily housing goals.
Single-Family Housing Goals:
| Single-Family Goals (percentage of overall qualified single-family purchases) |
||
|---|---|---|
Single-Family Goals |
Benchmark Level
|
Benchmark Final Rule
|
| Low-Income Home Purchase Goal | 24% | 24% |
| Very Low-Income Home Purchase Goal | 6% | 6% |
| Low-Income Areas Home Purchase Subgoal | 14% | 14% |
| 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:
| Multifamily Goals (number of multifamily units) |
||
|---|---|---|
Multifamily Goals |
Benchmark Level
|
Benchmark Final Rule
|
| Low-Income Goal | 300,000 units | 315,000 units |
| Very Low-Income Subgoal | 60,000 units | 60,000 units |
| Small Multifamily Low-Income 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.
Link to final rule (Text as sent to the Federal Register)