Over the past year, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have been limiting public access to housing market surveys and economic forecasts, a change that industry analysts warn could reduce transparency in the U.S. mortgage market. The most recent development, first reported by Inman, involves Fannie not releasing its National Housing Survey in November — the first time it has failed to publish one in 15 years.
The monthly poll measures consumer sentiment related to housing-related topics, such as home prices and mortgage rates. It powers Fannie Mae’s Home Purchase Sentiment Index (HPSI), a popular tool among industry participants for anticipating future home sales.
The October National Housing Survey had painted a dim picture of consumer sentiment. Only 27% of Americans thought it was a good time to buy a home (based on responses in September), and almost 70% felt the economy was heading in the wrong direction.
Freddie Mac has also scaled back its reporting. In February, it stopped publishing its economic, housing and mortgage market outlooks.
Fannie and Freddie, which guarantee more than half of U.S. mortgages, have historically provided free, widely cited economic research and data that lenders, investors and policymakers rely on to track market trends. The absence of these forecasts could lead to increased uncertainty in housing trends, making decision-making processes more challenging across the industry.
The Economic and Strategic Research (ESR) Group at Fannie Mae has continued publishing monthly forecasts, but its top economists have stopped providing commentary on the data releases. The last time Fannie’s economists provided such commentary was in March, when they warned of worsening economic growth due to the impact of the Trump administration’s tariffs and a reduction in consumer spending.
In its most recent Economic and Housing Outlook report, released Nov. 21, Fannie’s team of economists predicted existing-home sales of 4.057 million units in 2025, which would be the lowest level since 1995.
But the ESR Group left its year-end 2026 forecast for 30-year mortgage rates unchanged at 5.9%. That optimistic outlook stands in contrast to other industry predictions, with the Mortgage Bankers Association projecting 6.4% rates at the end of next year and Realtor.com forecasting 6.3% rates.
