Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s mortgage rate-lock share declined to roughly 46% in September, accounting for less than half of rate locks for the sixth consecutive month since the Iran war began in late February.
It is not unusual for market share of the government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) to fall during market cycles when mortgage rates or home prices spike relative to incomes.
But for their market share to decline this much, for this long, is unusual, underscoring how Fannie and Freddie are facing structural shifts in housing finance that overshadow typical cyclical patterns. Their shrinking production share is thus a sign of the times and a harbinger of things to come, experts tell Scotsman Guide.
“At a certain point, the market gets s...