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The Trump administration isn’t loosening the federal government’s grip on mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac any time soon. “I would imagine that the next year, the year after, we will be tackling the ownership structure,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Tuesday, calling it “unclear” for now how “a change in the arrangement of the shareholder structure” would benefit homeowners. President Donald Trump said this summer that he was still considering selling some of the government’s shares in Fannie and Freddie, purchased after the 2008 financial crisis. But any move to release them from conservatorship is likely to spike mortgage rates, which Bessent called “our North Star.” Housing starts dropped 5.2% in September, the Commerce Department said this morning, as residential construction slumped. Mortgage rates, meanwhile, recently reached their highest levels since November 2023.
document fetched 2026-10-23 22:19 · canonical https://semafor.com/article/10/20/2026/trump-administration-punts-on-releasing-fannie-freddie