Trade groups like plan for Fannie and Freddie, dislike its odds
That line pleased Alex Pollock, a senior fellow at the libertarian R Street Institute and former CEO of the Federal Home Loan Bank of Chicago. Congress won’t act, he said, but the administration should. “The administrative actions actually could take place and they could take place reasonably promptly,” he said. “And they should take place.”
Pollack said he particularly wants to see FHFA curb the advantages the two government-sponsored enterprises (GSE) enjoy over would-be competitors by increasing their capital requirements, charging them a fee for the financial support they can get from the Treasury and evening the regulatory playing field between them and their would-be competitors.
Pollock said regulatory changes would spur enough private competition with Fannie and Freddie to keep rates stable — and that homebuyers’ benefits from “artificially low” rates derived from government intervention are largely wiped out by a corresponding increase in housing prices — but the plan itself suggests Congressional action is necessary.
