“The government has used them in conservatorship to help stabilize the housing market, in particular the Federal Reserve by the securities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” Gabriel said. “The unfortunate element is that there are pretty divergent views of what might be the future of our housing finance system coming out of Congress and the White House. The views are sufficiently divergent that the topic is no longer being discussed. Literally, in the course of the last six to nine months, we’ve heard almost no mention of housing or housing finance among the domestic priorities in the second term of the Obama administration.”
Instead of full-scale programs, Gabriel said changes are coming in piecemeal fashion.
Gabriel noted that the expected resurgence of private securitization has yet to really take hold: “Nine out of 10 mortgages originated and securitized in the United States today come with U.S. government backing.”
Gabriel ultimately described the transition as “a very slow-moving train.”
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