The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) on Tuesday issued a final rule setting housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for 2026 through 2028, lowering benchmarks from 2025-2027 levels.
The Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992 requires the FHFA to establish several annual housing goals for single-family and multifamily mortgages purchased by the enterprises.
FHFA published a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register on Oct. 2, 2025, which proposed single-family and multifamily housing goals for 2026-2028. Public comments were accepted between Oct. 2 and Nov. 3, 2025.
“For too long, Biden distorted the housing market with harmful mandates that prioritized government quotas at the expense of middle-class families,” said FHFA Director Bill Pulte. “Thanks to President Trump, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will now focus on supporting affordable homeownership for all Americans while fulfilling their statutory duties.”
On the single-family side, 21% of the purchase mortgages acquired by Fannie and Freddie must go to borrowers earning less than 80% of the area median income (AMI), a decline from the current benchmark level of 25% for 2025 through 2027.
For borrowers earning less than 50% AMI — Very Low Income Home Purchase Goal (VLIP) — the GSEs must allocate 3.5% of their purchases in this area, down from 6% in the previous plan. The low-income refinance goal (LIR) went from 26% to 21%.
The plan’s Low-Income Areas Home Purchase subgoal, which counts certain owner-occupied, single-family home loans made either in census tracts with median income at or below 80% of the area median or to borrowers earning up to the area median who buy in lower-income, high-minority neighborhoods, is at a benchmark of 16%.
To simplify the Enterprise housing goals framework, FHFA says in the rule announcement that it is eliminating temporary measurement buffers for 2025–2027 that were intended to encourage compliance when benchmark levels exceeded market levels.
Because the 2026–2028 benchmarks are set below forecasted market levels, FHFA said the Enterprises can adjust their mortgage purchase strategies to account for market fluctuations without the need for an added regulatory buffer.
The multifamily housing goals are unchanged from the 2025-2027 benchmark; 61% of the multifamily properties financed by mortgages purchased by Fannie and Freddie must go to borrowers earning less than 80% of the area median income (AMI) and 14% must go to families with incomes less than or equal to 50% of AMI.
The share of all goal-eligible units in Enterprise-financed multifamily properties that are located in small multifamily buildings and affordable to low-income families, defined as those earning no more than 80% of the area median income, was set at a benchmark of 2%.
The final rule is scheduled to go into effect 60 days following its publication in the Federal Register.
Bob Broeksmit, CMB, CEO and president of the Mortgage Bankers Association, said the association “appreciates” FHFA’s consideration of its comments that it submitted.
“We welcome the decision to lower the single-family low-income refinance goal, a constructive step that better reflects today’s interest rate environment and promotes a more sustainable approach to affordable lending. In addition, the final multifamily housing goals and benchmarks strike an appropriate balance, supporting a healthy multifamily ecosystem that advances both affordable and market-rate production to expand supply and help reduce rental costs,” Broeksmit said.
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