Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (the GSEs) have long been Housing Credit investors. Though they were placed into conservatorship following the 2008 financial crisis and temporarily exited the Housing Credit market, in 2017, FHFA enabled them to re-enter the market with caps on their Housing Credit investments. Since then, FHFA has raised the cap several times. As of August 2025, each GSE is authorized to invest $2 billion in the Housing Credit annually. Additionally, half of their investment caps are targeted toward areas with difficulty attracting investors and at least 20 percent of that half is reserved for Duty to Serve rural communities.
Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) and the Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE)
Timeline of FHFA Action Pertaining to GSE Housing Credit Investment
- In 2025 FHFA announced it was raising the GSE’s Housing Credit investment cap from $1 billion to $2 billion each. This represented the largest increase to the GSEs’ Housing Credit investment cap since their return to the market in 2017. As before, half of the investment cap is to be targeted toward areas with difficulty attracting investors; however, FHFA strengthened its emphasis on rural investment by reserving 20% of that portion specifically for Duty to Serve rural areas.
- FHFA’s announcement followed a historic expansion of the Housing Credit as part of a broader reconciliation bill known as One Big Beautiful Bill.
- In 2023 FHFA announced it was raising the GSE’s Housing Credit investment cap from $850 million to $1 billion each with $500 million targeted toward areas with difficulty attracting investors as determined by FHFA.
- In 2021 FHFA announced it was raising the GSE’s Housing Credit investment cap from $500 million to $850 million each with $425 million targeted toward areas with difficulty attracting investors as determined by FHFA.
- In 2017 FHFA announced the GSEs would re-enter the Housing Credit market with a cap of $500 million of annual investment each. Additionally, $200 million of that cap was targeted toward underserved areas as determined by FHFA.
- Before the 2008 financial crisis and their placement into conservatorship, investments by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac represented 35-40% of the Housing Credit market. In September 2008, the two GSEs were placed into conservatorship to support their financial stability after they suffered major losses due to the global financial crisis. This severely disrupted the GSEs’ activity as equity investors in the Housing Credit market.
