The Washington Report

On Thursday, January 8, President Trump directed the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to purchase $200 billion of their own mortgage-backed securities in order to lower mortgage rates. Mortgages rates fell nearly 0.2% the subsequent day, ending the day at 5.99%. NAR has advocated for the government, including the GSEs, to expand their MBS purchases to bring down mortgages rates, and applauds this move.

The Fed was the major purchaser of mortgages backed securities during the pandemic and for much of the decade prior. In 2022, the Fed began to pull out of the market leaving a vacuum of demand in its place. Rates rose as a result and in the fall of 2023, NAR wrote the Fed and Treasury, urging them to wade into the market including directing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to increase purchases of their own MBS.

As NAR noted in its 2023 letter, while positive, this pressure on rates must be accompanied by efforts to expand supply. 

On January 15, 2025, NAR sent a letter to House Financial Services Committee leaders supporting the “TRIA Program Reauthorization Act of 2025,” which would provide a straight eight‑year extension of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) through 2035.

Late last year, the House Housing & Insurance Subcommittee held a hearing on TRIA reauthorization, where witnesses and members from both parties voiced strong support for renewing the program well ahead of its 2027 expiration. Stakeholders emphasized that early reauthorization helps maintain stability in commercial real estate and related markets and avoids the tightening of terrorism coverage that can occur when the program’s future is uncertain.

In its letter, NAR underscored that TRIA is a financing prerequisite across the commercial market, supporting transactions, new construction, and business expansion nationwide. When terrorism coverage becomes uncertain or unavailable, lenders may restrict financing and commercial owners can face technical defaults—disruptions the federal backstop was created to prevent.

NAR thanked committee leadership for beginning this work well in advance of the deadline and urged swift action on the bill to ensure continued market stability.

Read the letter.