News Release

FHFA Proposes 2021 Housing Goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac

Current Housing Goals Expire at the end of 2020

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

7/20/2020

Washington, D.C. – Today, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) proposed its 2021 housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the Enterprises). Due to the economic uncertainty related to the COVID-19 national pandemic, FHFA is proposing benchmarks for calendar year 2021 only, and those levels will remain the same as they were for 2018-2020. Once finalized, the proposed benchmark levels would extend those benchmarks that are currently set to expire on December 31, 2020.

The proposed rule would establish both single-family and multifamily housing goals.

Single Family Housing Goals:

Goal

Current benchmark level for 2018-2020

Proposed benchmark level for 2021

Low-Income Home Purchase Goal

24 percent

24 percent

Very Low-Income Home Purchase Goal

6 percent

6 percent

Low-Income Areas Home Purchase Subgoal

14 percent

14 percent

Low-Income Refinancing Goal

21 percent

21 percent

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:

Goal

Current benchmark level for 2018-2020

Proposed benchmark level for 2021

Low-Income Goal

315,000 units

315,000 units

Very Low-Income Subgoal

60,000 units

60,000 units

Low-Income Small Multifamily Subgoal

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.

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.

For more information about the Enterprise housing goals, click here.

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The Federal Housing Finance Agency regulates Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 11 Federal Home Loan Banks. These government-sponsored enterprises provide more than $6.6 trillion in funding for the U.S. mortgage markets and financial institutions. Additional information is available at www.FHFA.gov, on Twitter, @FHFA, YouTube, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Contacts:Media: Raffi Williams [email protected]