The Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) finalized its 2026-2028 housing goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac on Tuesday, significantly reducing the benchmarks for single-family lending to low-income and very-low income borrowers while keeping multifamily targets unchanged.
The final rule, which will take effect on Feb. 23, 2026, lowers the single-family low-income home purchase goal from 25% to 21% and cuts the very low-income goal nearly in half, from 6% to 3.5%.
FHFA Director Bill Pulte framed the adjustment as a necessary correction to “harmful mandates” from the previous administration that he argued prioritized government quotas over market realities.
Under the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 1992, the FHFA is required to set annual housing goals for the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs).
These goals measure the percentage of mortgage purchases that support affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families over a three-year window.
The new rule introduces broad reductions across the single-family category. In addition to the purchase goal cuts, the low-income refinance goal will drop from 26% to 21%. The agency also consolidated two previously separate area-based subgoals into a single “Low-income Areas Home Purchase Subgoal,” which is now set at 16%.
The rule also eliminates “measurement buffers” that were previously included to ease compliance uncertainty for enterprises.
Industry representatives responded positively to the changes, arguing that the previous targets had forced the GSEs to chase unrealistic figures in a difficult economic environment.
In a written statement following the FHFA’s decision, Bob Broeksmit, president and CEO of the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), called the lower refinance goal a “constructive step that better reflects today’s interest rate environment and promotes a more sustainable approach to affordable lending.”
“MBA recognizes the potential market disruption when the percent-of-business goals become misaligned with changing market conditions. The revised goals help address those risks,” he said.
While single-family benchmarks were slashed, the FHFA left multifamily housing goals unchanged. The multifamily low-income goal will remain at 61%, and the very low-income goal stays at 14%. The agency stated that the current multifamily levels align with market conditions and statutory purposes without needing adjustment.
Critics of the reductions in the government’s official comment period had expressed concern that lower benchmarks could reduce access to credit for low- and moderate-income borrowers.
For example, Marc H. Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, a housing advocacy organization, commented that the proposed goals “risk undermining” the FHFA’s mandate “by reducing key single-family benchmarks and merging distinct subgoals that have historically supported transparency in serving minority and low-income borrowers.”
However, supporters argued that aggressive goal-setting in the past had exceeded available market supply, leading to market distortions that did not ultimately benefit homebuyers. All told, the FHFA received 19 comments on the rule change.
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the FHFA did not respond to Scotsman Guide’s request for comment by time of publication.
