{"id":11883,"date":"2026-06-03T18:02:02","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11883"},"modified":"2026-06-03T18:02:02","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T18:02:02","slug":"pultes-spy-agency-shift-seen-undercutting-trumps-housing-agenda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11883","title":{"rendered":"Pulte\u2019s spy agency shift seen undercutting Trump\u2019s housing agenda"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

By Katy O\u2019Donnell<\/strong> | Bloomberg<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump\u2019s decision to tap his top housing regulator to also serve as acting Director of National Intelligence threatens to sideline an already-sputtering home affordability agenda five months before the US midterm elections.<\/p>\n

Read more A diet of royal jelly isn\u2019t the only thing that makes a queen bee<\/a><\/p>\n

Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte will continue in his current post regulating the nearly $14 trillion mortgage market while also overseeing the sprawling US intelligence apparatus, Trump announced Tuesday. In addition, the president said Pulte will remain as chairman of the boards of both Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled companies underpinning the housing market.<\/p>\n

While Pulte lacks experience with the network of US intelligence agencies, the DNI role will allow him to flex muscles he\u2019s built over the course of his 15-month tenure atop FHFA: launching investigations of perceived opponents of the Trump administration. The possibility that the new post may appeal to Pulte\u2019s attack-dog persona more than the day-to-day workings of a financial regulator concerns housing policy analysts and advocates who fear the mortgage market could get short shrift.<\/p>\n

The dual-role decision comes as the administration has struggled to get an affordability agenda off the ground heading into a midterm election season expected to center on cost-of-living concerns, with Republican control of both houses of Congress at stake. That agenda now seems even further away, according to housing experts.<\/p>\n

The appointment is \u201ccalling into question many of the policy changes we were expecting FHFA to advance as we head into the midterm election, as it is unclear to us how much time Pulte will be able to devote to housing issues,\u201d TD Cowen\u2019s Jaret Seiberg wrote Tuesday, pointing to planned credit-scoring changes and potential cuts to Fannie and Freddie\u2019s loan-level pricing adjustments to lower borrowing costs.<\/p>\n

Fannie shares slipped as much as 5.7% and Freddie dropped as much as 5.1% on Tuesday. Both have tumbled more than 30% this year as doubts grew about the administration\u2019s plans to potentially sell shares in the mortgage giants.<\/p>\n

The biggest piece of housing legislation in a generation is stalled in Congress, while efforts at cutting credit card interest rates or letting people tap their 401(k) retirement accounts for down payments have gone nowhere. The war in Iran, meanwhile, has driven up gasoline prices and soured voters on the economy, though fuel costs have declined from their recent peak.<\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Even before the war, the cost of housing \u2014 most Americans\u2019 largest monthly expense \u2014 had soared in recent years: Home prices rose by more than 50% in the wake of the pandemic, with rents increasing about 35% over the same period.<\/p>\n

While the year began with analysts expecting a decline in mortgage rates and a pickup in housing sales, the opposite happened. The normally busy spring housing market has stagnated as higher borrowing rates and economic uncertainty kept would-be buyers on the sidelines.<\/p>\n

Pulte\u2019s appointment to DNI also raises questions about how the administration will move forward with discussions about selling shares of Fannie and Freddie. a longtime goal of some of Trump\u2019s allies.<\/p>\n

Public offering<\/h4>\n

The federal government bailed out Fannie and Freddie in September 2008 to stave off catastrophic losses during the financial crisis, and their future has been a conundrum for policymakers in Washington ever since. As their regulator, Pulte overhauled the leadership of the so-called government-sponsored enterprises and appointed himself chair of each company\u2019s board \u2014 an unprecedented move.<\/p>\n

Read more How Taqueria Hoy became an Orange County taco institution<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/div>\n

Soon after taking office, Pulte repeatedly raised the prospect of a public offering, even as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent tapped the brakes, assuring industry, advocates and investors that the administration would take a careful, deliberative approach that would not risk widening mortgage spreads.<\/p>\n

Some Trump confidantes have long questioned whether Pulte, a construction heir, was really up to the job of overseeing the mortgage market in the first place. In a sign that some in the administration doubted Pulte\u2019s understanding of housing policy, other Trump officials were enlisted to steer the IPO effort, Bloomberg reported last summer. Pulte disputed that characterization of his leadership.<\/p>\n

The White House also pushed back on any doubts about Pulte\u2019s qualifications in a statement Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe President chooses the best and most talented people to serve in his Cabinet,\u201d said White House spokesman Davis Ingle. \u201cBill Pulte is a great selection and he will do a great job on behalf of the American people.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all added up to a potential worst-case scenario for Republicans pondering the midterms. The non-partisan Cook Political Report favors Democrats to retake the House, even after a series of redistricting efforts seen as benefitting the GOP are enacted. At the same time, a number of national polls this year have shown support for Trump slipping, particularly when it comes to his handling of the economy.<\/p>\n

Existing homeowners<\/h4>\n

Trump has signaled his own frustration with getting the housing market \u2014 plagued by years of underbuilding following the global financial crisis \u2014 jump started. And he\u2019s said he doesn\u2019t want to hurt existing homeowners to make housing more affordable.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not going to destroy the value of their homes so somebody who didn\u2019t work very hard can buy a home,\u201d Trump said at a Cabinet meeting in January.<\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s decision on Pulte could aid efforts to get a potential share sale moving again, according to Bloomberg Intelligence\u2019s Ben Elliott, \u201cif the new role is used as an offramp to replace Pulte at FHFA with a more hands-on director.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWere Pulte to be replaced and his successor more focused on the minutiae of exiting Fannie and Freddie from conservatorship, there is likely still enough time in Trump\u2019s second term to make significant, potentially irreversible progress towards release,\u201d Elliott said.<\/p>\n

But whether that would help housing prices is a contested issue. Some market analysts believe a share sale could risk widening mortgage spreads and raising mortgage rates \u2013 an outcome Bessent has repeatedly emphasized would not be acceptable to the administration.<\/p>\n

Read more Australian judges weigh Indigenous activist\u2019s bid to prosecute King Charles for genocide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Housing policy analysts and advocates fear the mortgage market could get short shrift.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-based-on-facts-either-observed-and-verified-directly-by-the-reporter-or-reported-and-verified-from-knowledgeable-sources","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nPulte\u2019s spy agency shift seen undercutting Trump\u2019s housing agenda - Silicon Valley Moving Post<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/siliconvalleymovingpost.com\/?p=11883\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Pulte\u2019s spy agency shift seen undercutting Trump\u2019s housing agenda - 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