Housing and Mortgage Policy

The White House is directing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds as part of a broader effort by President Trump to use federal entities to enact housing policy without new legislation, a move that has prompted concern on Capitol Hill about stretching statutory authority. At the same time, Freddie Mac reports the average 30-year fixed rate has fallen to 6.06% — the lowest in more than three years — boosting purchase and refinance activity even as Attom data show affordability remains strained with record median prices and home-price gains far outpacing wages.

A new Fannie Mae ad airing this week uses an AI‑cloned version of President Donald Trump’s voice—created with the administration’s permission—to tout an 'all new Fannie Mae' and cast the government‑controlled mortgage giant as 'protector of the American Dream,' according to a video disclaimer and AP reporting. In the one‑minute spot, the synthetic Trump voice says the housing system has 'stopped working' for many Americans and promises that Fannie Mae will work with banks to approve more would‑be homebuyers at a time when affordability is a top voter concern. The ad lands as Trump prepares to push housing affordability at the World Economic Forum in Davos and after he pledged 'some of the most aggressive housing reform plans in American history,' including exploring 50‑year mortgages, directing Fannie and Freddie to buy $200 billion in mortgage bonds to lower rates, and floating a ban on large institutional investors buying homes. Fannie Mae and its sibling Freddie Mac, still under federal control after the Great Recession, guarantee roughly half of the $13 trillion U.S. home‑loan market, so any shift in their mandate—or in how the White House uses them—has system‑wide implications even if many of these ideas remain vague talking points. The use of an officially sanctioned AI voice for a sitting president in a policy‑branded ad also highlights how quickly generative‑AI tools are moving from novelty into the core of political and government‑aligned messaging, in a year when deepfake abuse and demands for tighter AI rules are already front‑page issues.