NOTE: This article, originally published Friday, August 8, has been updated to add new information on 8/9 and 8/11.
First reported by The Wall Street Journal, President Donald Trump is planning — or at least is considering — an initial public offering for the government-sponsored enterprises, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, later this year.
The WSJ report, which was published a little before 11:30 a.m. ET on Friday, Aug. 8 and cited Trump Administration officials close to the matter, said the companies could be valued at $500 billion combined. The IPO could involve selling 5%-15% of the companies’ shares and raise $30 billion, the news outlet reported.
Follow-on articles quickly came from Reuters, Bloomberg, Yahoo, and others. What's uncertain, according to WSJ's piece, is whether there would be a combined or separate IPO for the companies. WSJ also wrote it's not clear whether the government would continue its conservatorship of Fannie and Freddie, what that would look like.
Update 8/9: President Trump over the weekend seemed to confirm a November 2025 date for a Fannie-Freddie IPO (and hinted it may be a combined one and/or the companies could be merged), posting an image on Truth Social depicting himself ringing the New York Stock Exchange bell, "November 2025," and a notably singular potential logo of sorts reading "The Great American Mortgage Corporation" showing two five-star rows within two rectangles.
On Saturday evening, Federal Housing Finance Agency Director and Chairman of the Board of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, William J. Pulte, followed up on that post with one of his own on X showing "The Great American Mortgage Corporation" portion of the President's image and this message: "[Franklin Delano Roosevelt] created Fannie Mae in 1938 and President Trump may create this in 2025."
Pulte later reposted the potential logo as well as a more patriotic variant of the one first shown in the image above, this time with a thick, red outer rectangle, deep blue inner rectangle, lettering, and stars, and a white background.
Update 8/11: Could this apparently planned action with the GSEs help with lowering mortgage rates? As to the question of a potential merger of the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac), as both the President and Director Pulte intimated, and if that would be beneficial for rates, billionaire hedge fund manager and investor, Bill Ackman, is all for it and says yes.
In a post yesterday morning on X, Ackman, whose Pershing Square Capital investment management firm is estimated to hold hundreds of millions of dollars' worth of Fannie and Freddie shares, described a merger of the two GSEs as "a really good idea," going so far as to add at the end the abbreviation "LFG" — "let's f'ing go."
"One way to reduce mortgage rates would be to merge Fannie and Freddie," Ackman contended. "A merger would enable them to achieve huge synergies both in their operations and in the trading price and spreads of their MBS, savings which could be passed along to consumers in the form of reduced mortgage rates."
"A merger would also reduce the cost and risks of government oversight as there would be only one institution that would require FHFA oversight," he continued. "I suspect that this is [President Trump's] idea as implied by his post ... It’s a really good one. LFG!"
Opposing Views
However, not all share the enthusiasm of Ackman — who endorsed President Trump during his 2024 campaign for re-election but has been critical of certain policies like tariffs — for such changes to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and GSE reforms would likely face opposition in Congress from Democrats if any legislation were to be introduced. And some believe changes to the GSEs could shake up the markets and raise mortgage rates, underscoring that views on this matter are highly polarized.
"Hasty and poorly planned changes to the Enterprises could dramatically increase costs for families seeking to purchase a home," wrote Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee, and 14 other U.S. senators in a June letter to FHFA Director Pulte.
"Given the seismic change this decision represents and the concerns it raises about the stability of our nation’s housing and financial markets, we write to ask that the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) pause efforts to reprivatize or otherwise alter the Enterprises, including relisting their common and preferred stock, until you have fully briefed Congress on those plans," the letter reads.
"A decision of this magnitude cannot be made on a whim without Congressional consultation and approval," it continues. "Government-backed mortgage financing through the Enterprises remains one of the lowest-cost sources of lending for homeowners and multifamily housing developers alike by providing liquidity to the mortgage market."
Looking Back
President Trump has been considering taking the GSEs public for (at least) months and has spoken publicly and posted on social media about doing so, and most recently this week met with leaders of large banks to discuss the move.
On May 21, 2025, President Trump posted on Truth Social:
"I am giving very serious consideration to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public. I will be speaking with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, William Pulte, among others, and will be making a decision in the near future. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are doing very well, throwing off a lot of CASH, and the time would seem to be right. Stay tuned!"
However, the President clarified his position at the time regarding government guarantees and oversight of the GSEs in another post on May 27:
"I am working on TAKING THESE AMAZING COMPANIES PUBLIC, but I want to be clear, the U.S. Government will keep its implicit GUARANTEES, and I will stay strong in my position on overseeing them as President."
Changes in the GSEs' operations — such as taking them public or shifts in their lending guidelines — could significantly impact the mortgage landscape and have industry-wide effects, since the companies play a critical role in the secondary mortgage market, influencing loan rates, availability, and overall market stability.
Further coverage from National Mortgage Professional on the issue:
