Shaina Mishkin

Federal Housing Finance Agency director Bill Pulte on Friday repeated his warning to home builders: ramp up building to bring prices down.

Builders were among the topics covered by Pulte, who spoke remotely on Friday at ResiDay, a real estate conference in Mahattan. He also reiterated his previous statements about the future of the conservatorship of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and said the companies were considering taking stakes in tech companies.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two secondary mortgage market giants that have been under FHFA conservatorship since 2008, could "incentivize and disincentivize things that home builders are doing," said Pulte, the head of the companies' conservator.

Pulte's comments follow statements from both him and President Donald Trump about the housing market. The president in early October said that builders were keeping prices high. "They're my friends, and they're very important to the SUCCESS of our Country, but now, they can get Financing, and they have to start building Homes," he wrote on Truth Social, his social-media platform. "I'm asking Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to get Big Homebuilders going."

Pulte, posting recently on social-media website X, also said that "we are evaluating all options with Homebuilders." He added that "I encourage all market participants to bring us your best ideas but please keep in mind -- don't get together and collude -- very important."

He said on Friday at the conference that Fannie Mae, one of the two secondary mortgage market giants under government control, provides financial support to large builders. "At Fannie Mae, for example, we give over $8 billion a year in liquidity just alone to Lennar. I think we give over $5 billion into D.R. Horton. We give over $4 billion to Pulte[Group]," said Pulte, whose grandfather founded the home builder PulteGroup. "These are very big numbers."

New home prices need to come down, Pulte said during his panel. "The builders have got to start building," he said. "People are going to stick out like a sore thumb who are not building -- and people are going to start to say, well, why are you artificially, you know, constricting supply in order to keep prices high?"

PulteGroup, Lennar, and D.R. Horton didn't immediately comment on the FHFA director's statement.

PulteGroup on an October earnings call addressed the president's comments, noting that the U.S. has three to four million fewer homes than it needs to meet demand.

"While this supply deficit certainly has an impact on affordability generally, the complexities of the new-home construction industry dictate that tackling a problem of this scale requires a coordinated and comprehensive approach," CEO Ryan Marshall said on the October call. "We look forward to helping address the issue of housing in America and working with the administration and developing actionable solutions that are consistent with Pulte's long-term strategic plans."

There was little news pertaining to the future of Fannie and Freddie with regard to their long-running government conservatorship or a potential public offering. "They will likely stay in conservatorship," Pulte said at the conference, echoing statements he made in the past, including to Barron's.

"There will be, you know, very little to no -- absolutely no interruption. If anything, it may actually make things, in my view, safer and sounder," because the administration is only examining selling a small percentage of the companies, he said Friday at the conference. "It will be up to the president, whether he decides to do it or not, but I believe it will stay in conservatorship."

"I anticipate that the president will make a decision either this quarter or early next year as it relates to the IPO," he added.

The future of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is of interest to a large group of stakeholders -- including homeowners, buyers, shareholders and mortgage-backed securities traders, among others -- because of their critical role in the U.S. mortgage market. Any decision pertaining to the company's future comes with potential challenges and differing outcomes.

The two could take stakes in tech companies, Pulte said at the conference. "We have some of the biggest technology and public companies offering equity to Fannie and Freddie in exchange for Fannie and Freddie partnering with them," Pulte said. "We're looking at taking, you know, equity stakes in companies that are willing to give it to us."

Write to Shaina Mishkin at shaina.mishkin@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 07, 2025 15:51 ET (20:51 GMT)

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