Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 106253 

§ 55.53 [Amended] 

■ 28. Amend § 55.53 by: 

■ a. In paragraphs (e) and (f)(2), 

removing the phrase ‘‘test and research 

reactors’’ and adding in its place the 

phrase ‘‘non-power reactors’’; and 

■ b. In paragraph (j), removing the 

phrase ‘‘non-power reactors’’ and 

adding in its place the phrase 

‘‘utilization facilities licensed under 10 

CFR part 50 that are not power 

reactors’’; and 

■ c. In paragraph (k): 

■ i. Removing the phrase ‘‘non-power 

reactors’’ and adding in its place the 

phrase ‘‘utilization facilities licensed 

under 10 CFR part 50 that are not power 

reactors’’; and 

■ ii. Removing the term ‘‘non-power’’ at 

the end of the paragraph. 

§ 55.59 [Amended] 

■ 29. In § 55.59, amend paragraph (c)(7) 

by: 

■ a. Removing in the paragraph heading, 

the phrase ‘‘research and test reactor 

facilities’’ and adding in its place the 

phrase ‘‘utilization facilities licensed 

under 10 CFR part 50 that are not power 

reactors’’; and 

■ b. Removing the phrase ‘‘research 

reactor or test reactor facility’’ and 

adding in its place ‘‘utilization facility 

licensed under 10 CFR part 50 that is 

not a power reactor’’. 

§ 55.61 [Amended] 

■ 30. In § 55.61, amend paragraph (b)(5) 

by removing the phrase ‘‘non-power 

reactors’’ and adding in its place the 

phrase ‘‘utilization facilities licensed 

under 10 CFR part 50 that are not power 

reactors’’. 

PART 73—PHYSICAL PROTECTION OF 

PLANTS AND MATERIALS 

■ 31. The authority citation for part 73 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 

secs. 53, 147, 149, 161, 161A, 170D, 170E, 

170H, 170I, 223, 229, 234, 1701 (42 U.S.C. 

2073, 2167, 2169, 2201, 2201a, 2210d, 2210e, 

2210h, 2210i, 2273, 2278a, 2282, 2297f); 

Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, secs. 201, 

202 (42 U.S.C. 5841, 5842); Nuclear Waste 

Policy Act of 1982, secs. 135, 141 (42 U.S.C. 

10155, 10161); 44 U.S.C. 3504 note. 

Section 73.37(b)(2) also issued under Sec. 

301, Public Law 96–295, 94 Stat. 789 (42 

U.S.C. 5841 note). 

■ 32. In § 73.2, add in alphabetical order 

the definition for Non-power reactor. 

§ 73.2 Definitions. 

* * * * * 

Non-power reactor is defined at 10 

CFR 50.2. 

* * * * * 

§ 73.21 [Amended] 

■ 33. In § 73.21, amend paragraph 

(a)(1)(ii) by removing the phrase 

‘‘Research and test reactors’’ and adding 

in its place the phrase ‘‘non-power 

reactors’’. 

§ 73.23 [Amended] 

■ 34. Amend § 73.23 by removing the 

phrase ‘‘research and test reactors’’ and 

adding in its place the phrase ‘‘nonpower reactors’’. 

§ 73.60 [Amended] 

■ 35. Amend § 73.60 by removing 

wherever it may appear, the word 

‘‘nonpower’’ and adding in its place the 

word ‘‘non-power’’. 

PART 140—FINANCIAL PROTECTION 

REQUIREMENTS AND INDEMNITY 

AGREEMENTS 

■ 36. The authority citation for part 140 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 

secs. 161, 170, 223, 234 (42 U.S.C. 2201, 

2210, 2273, 2282); Energy Reorganization Act 

of 1974, secs. 201, 202 (42 U.S.C. 5841, 

5842); 44 U.S.C. 3504 note. 

■ 37. Amend § 140.3 by removing the 

definition for ‘‘Testing reactor’’ and 

adding the definition for ‘‘Testing 

facility’’ to read as follows: 

§ 140.3 Definitions. 

* * * * * 

Testing facility is defined at 10 CFR 

50.2. 

* * * * * 

§ 140.11 [Amended] 

■ 38. In § 140.11, amend paragraph 

(a)(3) by removing the phrase ‘‘testing 

reactor’’ and adding in its place the 

phrase ‘‘testing facility’’. 

PART 170—FEES FOR FACILITIES, 

MATERIALS, IMPORT AND EXPORT 

LICENSES, AND OTHER 

REGULATORY SERVICES UNDER THE 

ATOMIC ENERGY ACT OF 1954, AS 

AMENDED 

■ 39. The authority citation for part 170 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 

secs. 11, 161(w) (42 U.S.C. 2014, 2201(w)); 

Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, sec. 201 

(42 U.S.C. 5841); 42 U.S.C. 2215; 31 U.S.C. 

901, 902, 9701; 44 U.S.C. 3504 note. 

■ 40. Amend § 170.3 by revising the 

definitions for ‘‘Research reactor’’ and 

‘‘Testing facility’’ to read as follows: 

§ 170.3 Definitions. 

* * * * * 

Research reactor means a non-power 

production or utilization facility, as 

defined in 10 CFR 50.2, that is a nuclear 

reactor licensed under 10 CFR 50.21(c): 

(i) For which a safety assessment 

demonstrates accident radiation doses 

consistent with 10 CFR 50.34(a)(1)(i); 

and 

(ii) That is not a testing facility. 

* * * * * 

Testing facility is defined at 10 CFR 

50.2. 

* * * * * 

PART 171—ANNUAL FEES FOR 

REACTOR LICENSES AND FUEL 

CYCLE LICENSES AND MATERIALS 

LICENSES, INCLUDING HOLDERS OF 

CERTIFICATES OF COMPLIANCE, 

REGISTRATIONS, AND QUALITY 

ASSURANCE PROGRAM APPROVALS 

AND GOVERNMENT AGENCIES 

LICENSED BY THE NRC 

■ 41. The authority citation for part 171 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 

secs. 11, 161(w), 223, 234 (42 U.S.C. 2014, 

2201(w), 2273, 2282); Energy Reorganization 

Act of 1974, sec. 201 (42 U.S.C. 5841); 42 

U.S.C. 2215; 44 U.S.C. 3504 note. 

■ 42. Amend § 171.5 by revising the 

definitions for ‘‘Research reactor’’ and 

‘‘Testing facility’’ to read as follows: 

§ 171.5 Definitions. 

* * * * * 

Research reactor is defined at 10 CFR 

170.3. 

* * * * * 

Testing facility is defined at 10 CFR 

50.2. 

* * * * * 

Dated: December 19, 2024. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 

Carrie Safford, 

Secretary of the Commission. 

[FR Doc. 2024–30721 Filed 12–27–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

FEDERAL HOUSING FINANCE 

AGENCY 

12 CFR Part 1282 

RIN 2590–AB34 

2025–2027 Enterprise Housing Goals 

AGENCY: Federal Housing Finance 

Agency. 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Federal Housing Finance 

Agency (FHFA) is issuing a final rule on 

the housing goals for Fannie Mae and 

Freddie Mac (the Enterprises) for 2025 

through 2027 as required by the Federal 

Housing Enterprises Financial Safety 

and Soundness Act of 1992. The final 


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1 12 U.S.C. 4561(a). 

2 12 U.S.C. 4501(7). 

3 12 CFR part 1282. 

4 12 U.S.C. 4562(a)(1). To distinguish the goals 

and subgoals related to home purchase mortgages 

from the goal related to refinance mortgages, this 

preamble refers to the ‘‘low-income home purchase 

goal’’ and the ‘‘very low-income home purchase 

goal’’ to refer to the low-income families housing 

goal and the very low-income families housing goal, 

respectively, described in 12 CFR 1282.12(c) and 

(d). The terms ‘‘low-income census tracts home 

purchase subgoal’’ and ‘‘minority census tracts 

home purchase subgoal’’ are used to refer to the 

low-income census tracts housing subgoal and the 

minority census tracts housing subgoal, 

respectively, described in 12 CFR 1282.12(f) and (g). 

5See 12 U.S.C. 4502(28); 12 CFR 1282.1 

(definition of ‘‘families in low-income areas’’). 

6 12 CFR 1282.1 (par. (i) of definition of ‘‘families 

in low-income areas’’). 

7 12 U.S.C. 4502(29); 12 CFR 1282.1 (par. (ii) of 

definition of ‘‘families in low-income areas’’ and 

definition of ‘‘minority census tract’’). 

8 12 U.S.C. 4502(28); 12 CFR 1282.1 (definition of 

‘‘designated disaster area’’ and par. (iii) of 

definition of ‘‘families in low-income areas’’). 

9For brevity, sometimes this preamble uses the 

term ‘‘goals’’ to refer to goals and subgoals. 

10 12 CFR 1282.12(f). 

11See 12 U.S.C. 4562(e). 

12 12 U.S.C. 2801 et seq. 

rule establishes the benchmark levels 

for the single-family and multifamily 

housing goals and subgoals for 2025 

through 2027. The final rule also 

includes technical changes and factors 

FHFA will consider when determining 

whether an Enterprise would be 

required to submit a housing plan to 

FHFA should the Enterprise fail to meet 

three of the single-family housing goals. 

DATES: This final rule is effective 

February 28, 2025. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For 

general questions, please contact 

MediaInquiries@FHFA.gov. For 

technical questions, please contact 

Padmasini Raman, Supervisory Policy 

Analyst, Housing & Community 

Investment, Division of Housing 

Mission and Goals, (202) 649–3633, 

Padmasini.Raman@fhfa.gov; or Carey 

Whitehead, Assistant General Counsel, 

Office of General Counsel, (202) 649– 

3630, Carey.Whitehead@fhfa.gov. These 

are not toll-free numbers. The mailing 

address is: Federal Housing Finance 

Agency, 400 Seventh Street SW, 

Washington, DC 20219. For TTY/TRS 

users with hearing and speech 

disabilities, dial 711 and ask to be 

connected to any of the contact numbers 

above. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

A. Statutory and Regulatory Background 

for Enterprise Housing Goals 

The Federal Housing Enterprises 

Financial Safety and Soundness Act of 

1992 (Safety and Soundness Act) 

requires FHFA to establish several 

annual housing goals for both singlefamily and multifamily mortgages 

purchased by the Enterprises.1 The 

annual housing goals are one measure of 

the extent to which the Enterprises are 

meeting their public purposes, which 

include ‘‘an affirmative obligation to 

facilitate the financing of affordable 

housing for low- and moderate-income 

families in a manner consistent with 

their overall public purposes, while 

maintaining a strong financial condition 

and a reasonable economic return.’’ 2

FHFA establishes annual housing 

goals for Enterprise purchases of singlefamily and multifamily mortgages 

consistent with the requirements of the 

Safety and Soundness Act. The 

structure of the housing goals and the 

parameters for determining how 

mortgage purchases are counted or not 

counted towards the goals are defined in 

FHFA’s Enterprise housing goals 

regulation.3 This final rule amends the 

regulation to establish benchmark levels 

for the single-family and multifamily 

housing goals for 2025–2027. 

Single-family housing goals. The 

single-family housing goals defined 

under the Safety and Soundness Act 

include separate categories for home 

purchase mortgages for low-income 

families, very low-income families, and 

families that reside in low-income 

areas.4 For purposes of the single-family 

housing goals, families that reside in 

low-income areas 5 include: (1) families 

in low-income census tracts, defined as 

census tracts with median income less 

than or equal to 80 percent of area 

median income (AMI); 6 (2) families 

with incomes less than or equal to 100 

percent of AMI who reside in minority 

census tracts (defined as census tracts 

with a minority population of at least 30 

percent and a tract median income of 

less than 100 percent of AMI); 7 and (3) 

families with incomes less than or equal 

to 100 percent of AMI who reside in 

designated disaster areas.8 The 

Enterprise housing goals regulation also 

includes subgoals,9 within the lowincome areas housing goal, that focus on 

single-family housing occupied by 

families in low-income census tracts 

and moderate-income families in 

minority census tracts.10 Performance 

on the single-family home purchase 

goals and subgoals is measured as the 

percentage of the total home purchase 

mortgages purchased by an Enterprise 

each year that qualify for each goal or 

subgoal. There is also a separate goal for 

single-family refinance mortgages for 

low-income families, and performance 

on the refinance goal is determined in 

a similar way. 

Under the Safety and Soundness Act, 

the single-family housing goals are 

limited to mortgages on owner-occupied 

housing with one to four units. The 

single-family goals cover first lien, 

conventional, conforming mortgages, 

meaning mortgages that are not 

subordinate to other mortgage liens, that 

are not insured or guaranteed by the 

Federal Housing Administration or 

another government agency, and that 

have principal balances that do not 

exceed the conforming loan limits for 

Enterprise mortgages. 

Two-part evaluation approach for 

single-family housing goals. The 

Enterprises’ performance on the singlefamily housing goals is evaluated using 

a two-part approach that compares the 

goal-qualifying share of each 

Enterprise’s mortgage purchases to two 

separate measures: a benchmark level 

and a market level. To meet a singlefamily housing goal, the percentage of 

mortgage purchases by an Enterprise 

that qualifies for credit under each goal 

must equal or exceed either the 

benchmark level or the market level for 

that year. The benchmark level is set 

prospectively by rulemaking based on 

various factors set forth in the Safety 

and Soundness Act, which are further 

discussed below.11 The market level is 

determined retrospectively for each 

year, based on the actual goal-qualifying 

share of the overall market as measured 

by the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act 12

(HMDA) data for that year. The overall 

market that FHFA uses for setting both 

the prospective benchmark level and the 

retrospective market level consists of all 

single-family, owner-occupied, 

conventional, conforming mortgages 

that would be eligible for purchase by 

either Enterprise. It includes loans 

purchased by the Enterprises as well as 

comparable loans held in a lender’s 

portfolio. It also includes any loans that 

are part of a private label security, 

although few such securities have been 

issued for conventional conforming 

mortgages since 2008. Since 2018, 

several new HMDA data fields have 

become available. FHFA continues to 

monitor reporting of these new fields to 

consider potential adjustments to the 

way FHFA measures the overall market. 

Because FHFA’s econometric market 

models use past years’ data to construct 

the models, a potential transition to 

incorporate any new data variables will 

require time to obtain an adequate input 

data series. 

While the retrospective market levels 

measure mortgage originations in a 

particular year, the performance of the 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 106255 

13See 12 U.S.C. 4563(c). The 30 percent test for 

measuring affordability traces back to the ‘‘Brooke 

Amendment,’’ which amended the United States 

Housing Act of 1937 to cap public housing rents 

(Pub. L. 91–152). For purposes of the multifamily 

housing goals, to be affordable at the 80 percent of 

AMI level, the rents must not exceed 30 percent of 

the renter’s income, which must not exceed 80 

percent of AMI. See https://www.huduser.gov/ 

portal/pdredge/pdr_edge_featd_article_092214.html 

for a description of the Brooke Amendment and 

background on the notion of affordability embedded 

in the housing goals. 

14See 12 CFR 1282.1 (par. (i)(B) of definition of 

‘‘rent’’). 

15See 12 U.S.C. 4564(b); 12 CFR 1282.14(d). 

16See 12 U.S.C. 4566(b); 12 CFR 1282.21(a) 

(current regulation); 12 CFR 1282.22(a) (final rule). 

17See 12 U.S.C. 4566(c); 12 CFR 1282.21(a) 

(current regulation); 12 CFR 1282.22(a) (final rule). 18 89 FR 70127 (Aug. 29, 2024). 

Enterprises on the housing goals 

includes all Enterprise purchases in that 

year, regardless of the year in which the 

loan was originated. This includes any 

loans that are originated in one year and 

purchased by an Enterprise in a later 

year. 

Multifamily housing goals. The 

multifamily housing goals defined 

under the Safety and Soundness Act 

include separate categories for 

mortgages on multifamily properties 

(properties with five or more units) with 

rental units affordable to low-income 

and very low-income families. The 

Safety and Soundness Act also requires 

reporting on smaller properties, and the 

Enterprise housing goals regulation 

includes a small multifamily lowincome subgoal for properties with 5 to 

50 units. The multifamily housing goals 

include all Enterprise multifamily 

mortgage purchases, regardless of the 

purpose of the loan. The multifamily 

housing goals evaluate the performance 

of the Enterprises based on the share of 

affordable units in properties that serve 

as collateral for mortgages purchased by 

an Enterprise. The Enterprise housing 

goals regulation does not include a 

retrospective market level measure for 

the multifamily housing goals, due in 

part to a lack of comprehensive data 

about the multifamily market. As a 

result, FHFA currently measures 

Enterprise multifamily housing goals 

performance against the benchmark 

levels only and the final rule retains this 

approach. 

The Safety and Soundness Act 

requires that affordability for rental 

units under the multifamily housing 

goals be determined based on rents that 

‘‘[do] not exceed 30 percent of the 

maximum income level of such income 

category, with appropriate adjustments 

for unit size as measured by the number 

of bedrooms.’’ 13 The Enterprise housing 

goals regulation considers the net rent 

paid by the renter, i.e., the rent is 

decreased by any subsidy payments that 

the renter may receive, including 

housing assistance payments.14

B. Considerations After Publication of 

the Final Rule 

If, after publication of this final rule, 

new information indicates that any of 

the single-family or multifamily housing 

goals or subgoals should be adjusted in 

light of market conditions or the safety 

and soundness of the Enterprises, or for 

any other reason, FHFA may take any 

steps that are necessary and appropriate 

to respond, consistent with the Safety 

and Soundness Act and the Enterprise 

housing goals regulation. 

For example, under the Safety and 

Soundness Act and the Enterprise 

housing goals regulation, FHFA is 

permitted to reduce a benchmark level 

in response to an Enterprise petition for 

reduction for any of the single-family or 

multifamily housing goals or subgoals in 

a particular year. Any adjustment in 

response to such a petition must be 

based on a determination by FHFA that: 

(1) market and economic conditions or 

the financial condition of the Enterprise 

require a reduction; or (2) efforts to meet 

the goal or subgoal would result in the 

constraint of liquidity, over-investment 

in certain market segments, or other 

consequences contrary to the intent of 

the Safety and Soundness Act or the 

purposes of the Enterprises’ charter 

acts.15

The Safety and Soundness Act and 

the Enterprise housing goals regulation 

also consider the possibility that 

achievement of a particular housing goal 

or subgoal may or may not have been 

feasible for an Enterprise. If FHFA 

determines that a housing goal or 

subgoal was not feasible for an 

Enterprise to achieve, then the statute 

and regulation do not require any 

further action related to that housing 

goal or subgoal for that year.16

If FHFA determines that an Enterprise 

did not meet a housing goal or subgoal 

and that achievement of the housing 

goal or subgoal was feasible, then the 

statute and regulation provide FHFA 

with discretionary authority to require 

the Enterprise to submit a housing plan 

describing the specific actions the 

Enterprise will take to improve its 

housing goals performance.17

C. Housing Goals Under 

Conservatorship 

On September 6, 2008, FHFA placed 

each Enterprise into conservatorship. 

Although the Enterprises remain in 

conservatorship, they continue to have 

the mission of supporting a stable and 

liquid national market for residential 

mortgage financing. FHFA has 

continued to establish annual housing 

goals for the Enterprises and assess their 

performance under the housing goals 

each year during conservatorship. 

II. Discussion of Proposed Rule and 

Public Comments 

FHFA published a notice of proposed 

rulemaking (NPRM or proposed rule) in 

the Federal Register on August 29, 

2024, that proposed benchmark levels 

for the single-family and multifamily 

housing goals for 2025–2027.18 The 

public comment period on the proposed 

rule ended on October 28, 2024. The 

NPRM proposed decreasing the 

benchmark levels for the single-family 

low-income home purchase and very 

low-income home purchase goals from 

the current benchmark levels in 

response to recent market conditions 

and forecast updates. The NPRM also 

proposed increasing the minority census 

tracts home purchase subgoal 

benchmark level, while maintaining the 

existing low-income census tracts home 

purchase subgoal and the low-income 

refinance goal benchmark levels. 

With respect to the multifamily 

benchmark levels, the NPRM proposed 

maintaining the existing low-income 

multifamily goal benchmark level, 

increasing the very low-income 

multifamily goal benchmark level, and 

decreasing the small (5–50 units) 

multifamily subgoal benchmark level. 

In response to potential future 

uncertainty regarding the size and 

composition of the single-family 

mortgage market, the NPRM proposed 

including ‘‘Enforcement Factors’’ that 

FHFA would consider in determining 

when a housing plan would be required 

if an Enterprise failed to meet certain 

single-family housing goals during the 

2025–2027 period. 

The NPRM also proposed referring to 

the multifamily very low-income 

housing subgoal as a goal instead of a 

subgoal. In addition, the NRPM 

proposed technical changes intended to 

better conform the regulation to 

statutory text and existing FHFA 

practices and procedures and indicated 

that it may include additional technical 

changes or corrections in the final rule 

based on comments received. 

Overview of comments received. 

FHFA received 31 comment letters 

from 61 organizations and individuals 

in response to the proposed rule. 

Comments were submitted by both 

Enterprises, as well as by a community 

development financial institution, two 

mortgage companies, and four trade 


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19Summaries of each of these meetings are 

available at https://www.fhfa.gov/regulation/ 

federal-register/proposed-rulemaking/2025-2027- 

enterprise-housing-goals. 

associations (one trade association 

submitted two letters). FHFA also 

received one comment letter signed by 

20 Members of Congress, and seven 

comment letters from policy advocacy 

organizations, with one letter 

representing the views of eleven 

organizations and another representing 

the views of five organizations. Eleven 

individuals submitted the remaining 

thirteen comment letters (one individual 

submitted three letters). FHFA also held 

several meetings with stakeholders to 

describe the content of the proposed 

rule and to discuss issues raised by the 

proposed rule.19

FHFA has reviewed and considered 

all the comments. Several of the letters 

raised issues unrelated to the housing 

goals or beyond the scope of the 

proposed rule, and those comments are 

not addressed in this final rule. Specific 

provisions of the proposed rule, and the 

comments received on those provisions, 

are discussed below and throughout this 

final rule. 

Proposed single-family housing goals 

benchmark levels. 

Most of the commenters who 

addressed the proposed single-family 

goals, including the Enterprises, three 

individuals, three trade associations, 

and three nonprofit advocacy 

organizations, expressed overall support 

for the proposed benchmark levels. 

Many of these commenters also 

acknowledged the challenges associated 

with developing updated benchmark 

levels for the single-family housing 

goals using forecast models, particularly 

given recent and future mortgage market 

conditions. One nonprofit advocacy 

organization stated that while their 

organization has traditionally opposed 

reductions in the affordable housing 

goals, they recognize that higher interest 

rates and a historically low supply of 

affordable homes have combined to 

severely limit home purchase options 

for low-income households. The 

commenter also expressed support for 

FHFA’s efforts to balance market 

dynamics and the desire to set singlefamily goals at relatively high levels. 

Another comment letter submitted on 

behalf of several nonprofit advocacy 

groups acknowledged the challenges 

posed by rising interest rates in the 

housing market in recent years and 

FHFA’s ongoing commitment to 

navigate the complexities of a highinterest rate environment while 

supporting racial equity initiatives. The 

comment letter also noted that while the 

previous housing goals were established 

as reasonable stretch targets based on 

market conditions at that time, it is vital 

that FHFA adopt new strategies to better 

address the current economic 

landscape. One trade association stated 

that the proposed goals strike the right 

balance between continuing to push the 

Enterprises to fulfill their mission to 

serve low- and moderate-income 

homebuyers and homeowners, while 

doing so in a financially responsible and 

achievable manner. 

Although both Enterprises conveyed 

support for the proposed single-family 

home purchase benchmark levels, both 

also expressed concerns over 

uncertainty in the housing and loan 

origination market. Fannie Mae 

welcomed the proposed reductions in 

the low-income and very low-income 

benchmark levels but noted that 

uncertainty and constraints in housing 

supply and affordability could challenge 

its ability to meet the proposed 

benchmark levels. 

Three nonprofit advocacy 

organizations, one trade association, and 

a community development financial 

institution disagreed with all or many of 

the proposed single-family goal 

benchmark levels, and their comments 

supported maintaining or increasing the 

benchmark levels relative to the levels 

established for 2022 through 2024. 

Some of these commenters specifically 

opposed the proposed reductions in the 

benchmark levels for the low-income 

home purchase and very low-income 

home purchase goals. A few of these 

commenters also recommended that the 

benchmark levels for the low-income 

refinance goal and the low-income 

census tracts home purchase subgoal be 

increased. These commenters urged 

FHFA to remain aggressive and 

ambitious when setting the housing goal 

benchmark levels as a means to 

motivate the Enterprises to lead the 

market. Several of these commenters 

stressed the critical role the goals and 

subgoals play in providing access to 

mortgage credit for low-income and very 

low-income borrowers by ensuring that 

the Enterprises properly focus on this 

important aspect of their mission. 

Proposed benchmark levels for singlefamily low-income and very low-income 

home purchase goals. 

Three nonprofit advocacy 

organizations and one community 

development financial institution 

recommended that the proposed 

benchmark levels for the single-family 

low-income home purchase goal, which 

FHFA proposed to lower from 28 

percent to 25 percent, and the singlefamily very low-income home purchase 

goal, which FHFA proposed to lower 

from 7 percent to 6 percent, be 

increased in the final rule. These 

commenters maintained that the 

proposed benchmark levels were not 

aggressive enough given that interest 

rates had declined since the proposed 

rule was published. A few of these 

commenters pointed out that the 

proposed benchmark levels for the lowincome and very low-income home 

purchase goals were set at levels lower 

than the midpoints of the forecasts. As 

noted above, several of these 

commenters stated that the Enterprises 

should be given more ambitious lowincome and very low-income home 

purchase goals to motivate them to lead 

the market. 

Proposed single-family low-income 

census tracts home purchase subgoal. 

One individual commented that the 

proposed rule, which would maintain 

the current benchmark level for the 

single-family low-income census tracts 

home purchase subgoal at 4 percent, is 

lower than past performance as well as 

projected forecast performance. The 

commenter further noted that a higher 

benchmark level for this subgoal would 

be more consistent with past Enterprise 

performance and projected market 

performance (i.e., two of the statutory 

factors that must be considered when 

establishing a goal or subgoal). Two 

policy advocacy groups urged FHFA to 

set a higher benchmark level for this 

subgoal and pointed out that FHFA’s 

model forecast and Enterprise 

performance in recent years have been 

higher than the proposed benchmark 

level of 4 percent. 

Proposed single-family minority 

census tracts subgoal. 

Many commenters supported the 

proposed increase in the benchmark 

level for the single-family minority 

census tracts home purchase subgoal 

from 10 percent to 12 percent. A 

comment letter submitted on behalf of 

several nonprofit advocacy 

organizations expressed support for this 

proposed increase and noted that the 

previous benchmark level did not 

present a significant challenge for the 

Enterprises to meet. A community 

development financial institution also 

supported the proposed increase, and 

encouraged FHFA to further increase it 

over time given the critical need to close 

the persistent racial and ethnic 

homeownership gaps that perpetuate 

inequality. A nonprofit advocacy 

organization recommended that FHFA 

set the benchmark level at 13 percent 

rather than 12 percent to push the 

Enterprises to pursue innovations that 

drive the market in light of population 

trends that may lead to a greater share 

of census tracts where at least 30 


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20For refinance mortgages, the denominator is the 

total number of refinancing mortgage purchases of 

an Enterprise in a particular year that finance 

owner-occupied single-family properties. 

percent of the population identifies as 

non-white. Another nonprofit advocacy 

group stated that because the statutory 

definition of ‘‘minority census tract’’ is 

broad, FHFA should greatly increase the 

benchmark level for this subgoal to 

incentivize the Enterprises to close the 

racial homeownership gaps for specific 

minority groups. 

Proposed single-family low-income 

refinance goal. 

Most of the commenters who 

addressed the proposed low-income 

refinance goal supported the proposal, 

which would maintain the current 

benchmark level at 26 percent. Several 

of the commenters recognized the 

challenges associated with forecasting 

the refinance market. For example, one 

trade association noted that the 

refinance market is more sensitive to 

interest rates, making it more difficult to 

forecast compared to the home purchase 

market. A policy advocacy group 

acknowledged that the refinance market 

is more unpredictable and volatile than 

the home purchase market due to 

increased sensitivity to interest rates, 

but nevertheless encouraged FHFA to 

increase the benchmark level for this 

goal in response to the forecasted 

market. To address the challenges 

associated with establishing this goal, 

the trade association also suggested that 

FHFA consider establishing a secondary 

assessment factor based on the number 

of loans purchased when unique market 

factors drive large or unanticipated 

increases in the denominator 20 to better 

assess the number of low-income 

refinances purchased year over year. 

Measurement buffers (called 

‘‘Enforcement Factors’’ in the proposed 

rule). 

In the proposed rule preamble, FHFA 

specifically requested comments on the 

proposed factors (referred to as 

‘‘Enforcement Factors’’ in the NPRM) 

that FHFA would consider when 

determining if a housing plan would be 

required if an Enterprise failed to meet 

certain single-family housing goals 

during the 2025–2027 housing goals 

period. Specifically, FHFA proposed 

language in section 1282.22 to indicate 

that it would not require a housing plan 

if the benchmark level for a singlefamily housing goal is higher than the 

market level for the goal and the 

Enterprise’s performance meets or 

exceeds the market level minus a 

specified percentage point. The 

applicable percentage point is different 

for the low-income home purchase goal, 

the very low-income home purchase 

goal, and the low-income refinance goal. 

FHFA did not propose similar factors 

for single-family subgoals. FHFA also 

proposed limitations so that the factors 

would not apply in 2027 if the 

Enterprise did not meet the market and 

the benchmark levels in 2025 and 2026. 

Several commenters, including a 

nonprofit advocacy organization, both 

Enterprises, three trade associations, 

and a mortgage company expressed 

support for the proposed factors. The 

nonprofit advocacy organization 

commented that the proposed factors 

would offer flexibilities that will allow 

the Enterprises to better adapt their 

business activities to market changes 

without having to focus on meeting one 

static metric. One trade association 

noted that the proposed factors would 

allow the Enterprises to address 

unexpected market outcomes to prevent 

unintended consequences, including 

unwanted market behaviors that would 

not benefit the intended borrowers. A 

mortgage company welcomed the 

additional flexibility based on current 

market conditions that the proposed 

factors would provide. 

Fannie Mae expressed general support 

for the proposed enforcement factors, 

indicating that the proposed factors 

considered the difficulties an Enterprise 

may experience when managing to the 

anticipated market share rather than the 

fixed benchmark levels. Fannie Mae 

noted that while the use of the proposed 

factors would not change the 

requirement that an Enterprise meet or 

surpass each of the single-family 

housing goals benchmark levels or 

market share levels, implementation of 

the factors would provide the 

Enterprises some assurance considering 

the uncertainty inherent in predicting 

market share, especially in the absence 

of fulsome data. 

Freddie Mac expressed support for 

the proposed enforcement factors, 

noting that they would appropriately 

account for market fluctuations and 

uncertainties that cannot be adequately 

predicted months or years in advance 

due to the lack of inclusive and timely 

market data. Freddie Mac described the 

proposed factors as a ‘‘necessary 

safeguard’’ for offsetting any potential 

gap between the actual and forecasted 

market levels during the 2025–2027 

housing goal period. Freddie Mac also 

supported the proposed limitations on 

the use of the proposed factors. 

Specifically, if an Enterprise fails to 

meet one of the single-family lowincome housing goals in both 2025 and 

2026, it would not be allowed to apply 

the proposed factor to the applicable 

housing goal in 2027. Freddie Mac 

noted that the proposed limitation on 

the use of the proposed factors would 

appropriately account for the 

uncertainty of market conditions and 

forecasting while maintaining the 

Enterprises’ responsibility to develop 

strategies for achieving the housing 

goals. 

Comment letters submitted on behalf 

of several policy advocacy organizations 

expressed opposition to the proposed 

enforcement factors, based on the view 

that they would reduce the 

accountability of the Enterprises and 

allow them to meet a share lower than 

the market level. As noted in the NPRM, 

the use of the enforcement factors 

would be limited and designed to 

balance the importance of meeting the 

housing goals with support for liquidity 

in all market segments. To balance these 

needs, FHFA narrowly targeted the 

proposed enforcement factors to apply 

only to certain single-family housing 

goals and only for 2025–2027. FHFA 

noted that it would consider a proposed 

factor only if the benchmark levels for 

certain single-family goals were a 

stretch goal (i.e., above the HMDA 

market measure) for the year. 

Two comments submitted on behalf of 

nonprofit advocacy organizations 

expressed concern that the proposed 

factors would relax performance 

requirements for the Enterprises. FHFA 

notes that these comments do not reflect 

the intent behind the proposed factors. 

As proposed, the factors do not modify 

the standards for meeting the housing 

goals. The Enterprises are still required 

to meet the lower of the benchmark 

level or the market level for each goal. 

FHFA will continue to make a final 

determination of each Enterprise’s 

performance under each single-family 

housing goal and subgoal and each 

multifamily housing goal and subgoal 

and will continue to notify Congress if 

an Enterprise fails to meet any of the 

goals or subgoals. 

Proposed multifamily housing goals 

benchmark levels. 

Several of the commenters that 

commented on the proposed 

multifamily housing goals benchmark 

levels supported the proposal to 

maintain the current multifamily lowincome goal benchmark level at 61 

percent, to increase the multifamily very 

low-income goal benchmark level from 

12 percent to 14 percent, and to reduce 

the small multifamily low-income 

subgoal benchmark level from 2.5 to 2.0 

percent. One trade association 

supported all the proposed multifamily 

goal benchmark levels, stating that they 

would effectively balance the role of the 

Enterprises in supporting affordable 

housing and providing liquidity to the 


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entire multifamily market. Another 

trade association stated that the 

proposed benchmark levels strike the 

right balance between continuing to 

push the Enterprises to fulfill their 

mission while doing so in a financially 

responsible and achievable manner. 

Another trade association referred to the 

proposed benchmark levels as a 

‘‘reasonable’’ mandate for the 

Enterprises that would provide a critical 

framework for mortgage funding. A 

nonprofit advocacy organization 

supported the proposal to keep the 

multifamily housing goals at elevated 

levels. The organization particularly 

supported the proposed increase in the 

very low-income goal benchmark level 

from 12 percent to 14 percent, noting 

that very low-income renters have been 

disproportionately impacted by the 

affordable housing crisis and face a 

severe shortage of affordable options. 

Of the remaining commenters on the 

multifamily housing goals, three 

nonprofit advocacy organizations, 20 

Members of Congress, and three 

individuals supported one or more of 

the proposed multifamily goals or the 

subgoal benchmark levels, while two 

nonprofit advocacy organizations 

opposed all the proposed multifamily 

goals benchmark levels. Two letters 

submitted by nonprofit advocacy 

organizations (one submitted on behalf 

of 11 nonprofit advocacy organizations) 

encouraged FHFA to adopt a higher 

benchmark level for the multifamily 

low-income housing goal but expressed 

support for the proposed multifamily 

very low-income benchmark level. 

Conversely, another policy advocacy 

organization supported maintaining the 

multifamily low-income housing goal 

benchmark level at 61 percent but urged 

FHFA to adopt a benchmark level for 

the multifamily very low-income 

housing goal higher than 12 percent, not 

realizing that FHFA proposed increasing 

this goal to 14 percent. A letter 

submitted on behalf of 20 Members of 

Congress called on FHFA to increase the 

proposed multifamily low-income 

housing goal benchmark level. With 

respect to the proposed multifamily 

low-income housing goal, the letters 

submitted by and on behalf of policy 

advocacy organizations, as well as the 

20 Members of Congress, stressed that 

the Enterprises’ previous performance 

highlighted their ability to lead in 

providing credit for multifamily 

mortgages that serve low-income 

households. For example, one of the 

commenters noted that because both 

Enterprises’ multifamily lending activity 

easily exceeded the 61 percent 

benchmark level each year from 2020 to 

2023, the multifamily low-income 

housing goal benchmark level should be 

increased to 65 percent. The letter 

submitted of behalf of the Members of 

Congress also noted that recent 

decreases in the target range for the 

federal funds rate, as well as the 

potential for additional decreases, 

coupled with individual state actions to 

increase housing supply pointed 

towards new opportunities for the 

Enterprises to meet higher benchmark 

levels. 

Regarding the proposed multifamily 

very low-income goal, a nonprofit 

advocacy organization expressed 

support for the proposed increase in the 

benchmark level by highlighting the 

important role the Enterprises play in 

helping to address the affordable 

housing needs of very low-income 

renters. The commenter pointed out that 

both Enterprises have easily exceeded 

the 12 percent benchmark level in 

recent years. The commenter also noted 

that developers of very low-income 

rental units often struggle to access 

affordable capital and that the 

Enterprises are well-suited to address 

these developers’ funding needs. 

Another policy advocacy organization 

viewed a benchmark level of 12 percent 

to be proportionally low in comparison 

to the proposed multifamily low-income 

housing goal benchmark level as well as 

the past performance of the Enterprises. 

The commenter noted that Fannie Mae’s 

multifamily very low-income housing 

goal performance was 18.7 percent for 

2023, while Freddie Mac’s was 20.6 

percent. As a result, the commenter 

recommended that FHFA increase the 

multifamily very low-income housing 

goal benchmark level in the final rule to 

reflect the greater need for affordable 

housing as well as to make it more 

proportional to the relationship between 

performance and benchmarking. 

One of the nonprofit advocacy 

organizations stated that FHFA is too 

conservative with its setting of the 

multifamily goal benchmark levels. The 

commenter noted that the recent 

historical performance of the 

Enterprises indicates that the proposed 

multifamily goals and subgoal 

benchmark levels should be more 

ambitious. The commenter expressed 

concern that the large difference 

between goal benchmark level setting 

and historical performance will 

encourage the Enterprises to ‘‘back 

slide,’’ which will hurt the housing 

supply for low-income rental units 

during a time when rents have been 

increasing significantly. Another 

nonprofit advocacy organization 

strongly urged FHFA to set higher 

multifamily goal benchmark levels in 

response to the ‘‘fair and affordable 

housing crisis’’ to incentivize the 

Enterprises to lead and move the market 

to give renters more opportunities for 

fair and affordable multifamily housing. 

Proposed small multifamily housing 

subgoal benchmark level. 

There were mixed reactions among 

those commenters that addressed the 

proposal to lower the benchmark level 

for the small multifamily low-income 

subgoal (which is for properties with 5 

to 50 units) from 2.5 percent to 2 

percent. One trade association 

supported the proposed reduction in the 

benchmark level, stating that this sector 

is well-supported by private capital 

sources. Freddie Mac stated that the 

proposal was appropriate given how 

sensitive this segment of the market is 

to market conditions and noted that this 

market sensitivity has resulted in fewer 

owners of such properties seeking 

financing relative to the market overall. 

Freddie Mac also stated that while it is 

important for the Enterprises to play a 

role in this market by advancing 

beneficial standards and providing 

countercyclical liquidity, the 

Enterprises should not crowd out 

private capital providers including 

regional banks and small financial 

institutions. Fannie Mae also supported 

the proposed benchmark level, stating 

that a reduction from 2.5 percent to 2 

percent is consistent with the ongoing 

competition for these loans in the 

market. 

One nonprofit advocacy organization 

and three individuals urged FHFA to 

maintain the benchmark level for this 

subgoal at the current 2.5 percent. A 

nonprofit advocacy organization and a 

letter on behalf of 20 Members of 

Congress recommended that the 

benchmark level be raised to above 2.5 

percent. The commenters argued that 

because the Enterprises have exceeded 

the 2.5 percent subgoal for the last four 

years, there is no need to decrease the 

benchmark level. The commenters 

emphasized that Enterprise support is 

crucial for these properties, noting that 

small multifamily properties serve as a 

critical source of affordable housing in 

rural areas and other underserved 

communities and owners of these 

properties struggle to access capital as 

readily as owners of larger 

developments. 


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21 89 FR 70127, 70130. 

22 12 U.S.C. 4561(a). 

Technical changes. 

Fannie Mae commented that the 

proposed technical changes related to 

enforcement of the housing goals omit 

certain language in the Safety and 

Soundness Act at 12 U.S.C. 4566(c)(7), 

4581(a)(3), and 4585(a)(3) that refers to 

goals established under specific sections 

of the statute. Fannie Mae suggested that 

FHFA modify the proposed rule 

language to avoid confusion about the 

enforcement options available for the 

housing goals. As stated in the proposed 

rule preamble, FHFA proposed 

technical changes ‘‘to better conform the 

regulation to statutory text’’ and to 

improve transparency by providing a 

more complete description of FHFA’s 

enforcement authority.21 FHFA did not 

intend the proposed technical changes 

to expand or to limit FHFA’s authority 

to enforce housing plans under the 

Safety and Soundness Act or any other 

applicable law. 

Other issues not included in the 

proposed rule, but raised by 

commenters: 

Duration of goals and opportunity for 

comment. One nonprofit advocacy 

organization urged FHFA to set twoyear, rather than three-year, benchmark 

levels for the single-family and 

multifamily goals. The commenter 

reasoned that because forecasts are more 

accurate in shorter time frames, twoyear goals could allow for more 

aggressive benchmark levels. The 

commenter also stated that a two-year 

cycle would increase the frequency of 

public comments and suggested that 

FHFA request public comments on the 

Enterprises’ performance under the 

goals, specifically with respect to 

housing plans. 

Under the Safety and Soundness Act, 

FHFA is required to establish the annual 

housing goals benchmark levels in a 

regulation, which FHFA adopts through 

notice and comment rulemaking.22

FHFA has chosen a three-year housing 

goals period, as it enables the 

Enterprises to plan their business 

activities more effectively and make 

progress towards meeting the goals. 

FHFA continues to believe that the 

establishment of three-year housing 

goals better enables the Enterprises to 

develop and implement high-level 

strategies for guiding their respective 

organizations towards achieving all the 

single-family and multifamily housing 

goals. The establishment and 

implementation of three-year housing 

goals also allows the Enterprises to map 

out, develop, and invest in longer-term 

strategies designed to achieve the 

housing goals. 

In response to the commenter’s 

recommendation that FHFA request 

public comments on the Enterprises’ 

performance under the goals, 

specifically on housing plans, FHFA 

notes that FHFA issues an Annual 

Housing Report (Report) pursuant to 12 

U.S.C. 4566. The Report describes the 

affordable and other housing activities 

of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during 

the preceding year and FHFA’s final 

review of the Enterprises’ housing goals 

performance, including copies of the 

final determination letters FHFA sends 

each Enterprise. The Report also 

indicates whether FHFA has required an 

Enterprise to submit a housing plan if 

the Enterprise fails to meet one or more 

of the goals and such goals were 

feasible. Because an Enterprise’s 

housing plan may contain proprietary 

information, FHFA does not believe it is 

appropriate to request public input on 

the strategies and initiatives the 

Enterprise intends to pursue to correct 

and improve its housing goal 

performance. 

Enterprises’ ability to lead the market. 

Three nonprofit advocacy organizations 

argued that the Enterprises be given 

higher, more ambitious goals to ensure 

they lead and ‘‘drive up’’ the market to 

serve the needs of neglected populations 

and address the nation’s affordable 

housing crisis. As further discussed 

below, the Safety and Soundness Act 

requires FHFA to balance seven 

statutory factors in setting the 

benchmark levels for the single-family 

housing goals, and six statutory factors 

in setting the benchmark levels for the 

multifamily housing goals. Under the 

statute, FHFA must consider the ability 

of the Enterprises to lead the singlefamily and multifamily markets, as well 

as other factors such as recent 

Enterprise and market performance, 

current and expected market conditions, 

and the safety and soundness of the 

Enterprises. In setting benchmark levels, 

FHFA takes all the statutory factors into 

account to enable the Enterprises to 

continue to provide critical support to 

the different goal market segments while 

also supporting the rest of the market. 

Publishing local data on Enterprise 

performance. One nonprofit advocacy 

organization stated that FHFA should 

publish local data on Enterprise 

performance to enable stakeholders to 

better identify underserved areas with 

many goal-qualified loans due to 

relatively high levels of housing 

affordability but are perhaps overlooked 

by the primary and secondary markets. 

The commenter suggested that FHFA 

create a database that would include 

income to housing ratios and other 

indicia of affordability that could help 

identify the underserved areas with a 

high share of goal-qualified loans. 

FHFA publishes state-level data from 

HMDA and on Enterprise performance 

on each single-family housing goal. 

Because the housing goals are set across 

all localities and for all Enterprise 

acquisitions in any given year, and 

because loan origination volume 

fluctuates depending on macroeconomic 

conditions, primary market activities, 

and Enterprise participation in the 

secondary market in each locality, 

comparisons of locality data across 

years may be misleading without 

adequate context about the extent of 

primary mortgage activity in the area as 

well as secondary market activities. 

FHFA will continue to conduct research 

and provide data that FHFA believes 

would be beneficial to the public. 

Additional tract ‘‘criteria’’ for the 

single-family low-income census tracts 

home purchase subgoal. A nonprofit 

advocacy organization commented that 

FHFA could use additional census tract 

‘‘criteria’’ to ensure mortgage credit is 

made available to underserved, 

disinvested markets (where 

gentrification is not happening or is less 

of a concern) and limit borrower income 

in some low-income census tracts. The 

commenter noted the additional criteria 

are necessary because mortgage credit 

remains scarce in rural areas, smaller 

post-industrial legacy cities, and poor 

urban neighborhoods. The commenter 

urged FHFA to examine tailoring the 

single-family low-income census tracts 

home purchase subgoal to better scale 

its impact on underserved, low-income 

markets. 

FHFA notes that gentrification and 

disinvestment are measured on multiple 

dimensions and data series on these 

measures are not readily available. 

FHFA first established the minority 

census tracts subgoal and the lowincome census tracts subgoal for the 

2022–2024 period, and there have only 

been two complete performance years 

for these subgoals. FHFA will continue 

to analyze the subgoal performance as 

related to these issues and will publish 

information on FHFA’s website as 

appropriate. 

Setting housing goals consistently. 

One nonprofit advocacy organization 

stated that the housing goals are not set 

consistently because some goals are set 

below the market forecast, while other 

goals are set at the market forecast. 

When proposing the benchmark levels, 

FHFA considers the most up-to-date 

expected market conditions as indicated 

by a forecast produced by Moody’s and 

the latest HMDA market levels for 


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23 In an annual Conservatorship Scorecard, FHFA 

establishes a cap on the multifamily purchase 

volume of each Enterprise. The Scorecard also 

establishes a percentage of multifamily purchases 

within the cap that must be ‘‘mission driven,’’ a 

defined term that generally encompasses affordable 

and underserved market segments. The 2024 

Scorecard sets a cap of $70 billion on each 

Enterprise and requires that at least half of 

Enterprise multifamily loan purchases be ‘‘missiondriven.’’ Details are available in the fact sheet ‘‘2025 

Multifamily Loan Purchase Caps for Fannie Mae 

and Freddie Mac,’’ available at https://

www.fhfa.gov/news/fact-sheet/2025-multifamilyloan-purchase-caps-for-fannie-mae-and-freddiemac. 

24See 12 CFR 1282.12(e). The benchmark level 

for 2024 is 19 percent. The notices setting this 

benchmark level can be found on FHFA’s website 

at https://www.fhfa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-06/

2024-Low-Income-Areas-Goal-Fannie-Mae.pdf and 

https://www.fhfa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-06/

2024-Low-Income-Areas-Goal-Freddie-Mac.pdf. 

which the loan level data series are 

available to include in the model when 

developing the proposed rule. FHFA 

also considers Enterprise performance 

for the partial year, to appropriately 

adjust the model-generated benchmark 

levels. The proposed rule’s benchmark 

level for the low-income census tracts 

home purchase subgoal was set below 

the market forecast at that time to 

address displacement concerns. The 

proposed rule’s benchmark level for the 

low-income refinance goal was set 

below the market forecast as this 

segment is highly sensitive to interest 

rate changes. In addition, there is 

limited economic data regarding how 

many borrowers are ‘‘locked in’’ by their 

current low mortgage rates, meaning 

that they are less likely to refinance or 

sell their home while prevailing 

mortgage rates are higher than their 

current rate. FHFA also notes that along 

with the market forecast, FHFA must 

consider the statutory factors in the 

Safety and Soundness Act that are not 

included in the market model when 

setting each benchmark level, as 

discussed in more detail below. 

Support for market-rate units. One 

trade association recommended that 

FHFA help the Enterprises balance their 

housing goals with providing liquidity 

support for market-rate units. FHFA 

considered market-rate units when 

setting the cap on multifamily purchase 

volume (the Multifamily Cap) and the 

percent of loans purchased that must be 

‘‘mission-driven,’’ in the 

Conservatorship Scorecard.23 The 

proposed Enterprise housing goals, 

however, are focused on families at or 

below specific AMI levels and FHFA 

sought to balance these objectives. 

Simplify Enterprise goals and targets. 

One trade association encouraged FHFA 

to work towards simplifying the various 

multifamily affordable and missionrelated goals of the Enterprises 

(including the housing goals that are the 

subject of this final rule, the 

Conservatorship Scorecard, and the 

Duty to Serve requirements in 12 CFR 

part 1282, subpart C). Each of these 

requirements helps ensure that the 

Enterprises fulfill a different aspect of 

their statutory mission and charters, as 

well as that they serve low- and 

moderate-income families and 

underserved markets in different ways. 

FHFA has already taken measures to 

assist the Enterprises in coordinating 

their efforts with respect to these 

requirements. For example, FHFA’s 

2023–2024 Multifamily Enterprise 

Housing Goals final rule established the 

benchmark levels for the multifamily 

goals based on a new methodology—the 

percentage of affordable units in 

multifamily properties financed by 

mortgages purchased by the Enterprise 

each year. FHFA believes that this 

change has simplified the multifamily 

housing goals in a way that 

complements the Multifamily Cap and 

enables the Enterprises to meet both 

targets more seamlessly. FHFA will 

continue to explore ways to coordinate 

and streamline the requirements of the 

various multifamily affordable and 

mission-related goals of the Enterprises 

while ensuring these goals are achieved. 

III. Summary of Final Rule 

A. Benchmark Levels for the SingleFamily Housing Goals and Subgoals— 

§ 1282.12 

This final rule establishes the 

benchmark levels for the single-family 

housing goals and subgoals for 2025– 

2027 as follows: 

Goal or subgoal Criteria 

Final 

benchmark 

level for 

2025–2027 

(percent) 

Low-Income Home Purchase 

Goal.

Home purchase mortgages on single-family, owner-occupied properties, to borrowers with incomes no greater than 80 percent of area median income (AMI).25 

Very Low-Income Home Purchase Goal.Home purchase mortgages on single-family, owner-occupied properties, to borrowers with incomes no greater than 50 percent of AMI.6 

Low-Income Refinance Goal ..... Refinance mortgages on single-family, owner-occupied properties, to borrowers with incomes 

no greater than 80 percent of AMI.

26 

Minority Census Tracts Home 

Purchase Subgoal.

Home purchase mortgages on single-family, owner-occupied properties to borrowers with incomes no greater than 100 percent of AMI in minority census tracts.1.12 

Low-Income Census Tracts 

Home Purchase Subgoal.

(i) Home purchase mortgages on single-family, owner-occupied properties to borrowers (regardless of income) in low-income census tracts 2 that are not minority census tracts, and (ii) 

home purchase mortgages on single-family, owner-occupied properties to borrowers with incomes greater than 100 percent of AMI in low-income census tracts that are also minority 

census tracts..

4 

1 Census tracts that have a minority population of at least 30 percent and a median income of less than 100 percent of AMI. 

2 Census tracts where the median income is no greater than 80 percent of AMI. 

As in previous rulemakings, the lowincome areas housing goal benchmark 

level is not included in this final rule. 

Under the existing regulation, the 

benchmark level will be the sum of the 

benchmark levels for the minority 

census tracts home purchase subgoal 

and the low-income census tracts home 

purchase subgoal established in this 

final rule, plus an additional amount 

that will be determined separately by 

FHFA by notice that considers families 

in disaster areas with incomes no 

greater than 100 percent of AMI.24

B. Benchmark Levels for the Multifamily 

Housing Goals and Subgoal—§ 1282.13 

The final rule establishes the 

benchmark levels for the multifamily 

housing goals and subgoal for 2025– 

2027 as follows: 


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25 12 U.S.C. 4563(a)(2) requires FHFA to establish 

‘‘additional requirements’’ for units affordable to 

very low-income families when it establishes the 

goal for mortgages on multifamily properties that 

finance dwelling units affordable to very lowincome families. 

Goals and subgoal Criteria 

Final 

benchmark 

level for 

2025–2027 

(percent) 

Low-Income Goal ....................... Percentage share of all goal-eligible units in multifamily properties financed by mortgages purchased by the Enterprise in the year that are affordable to low-income families, defined as 

families with incomes less than or equal to 80 percent of AMI.

61 

Very Low-Income Goal .............. Percentage share of all goal-eligible units in multifamily properties financed by mortgages purchased by the Enterprise in the year that are affordable to very low-income families, defined 

as families with incomes less than or equal to 50 percent of AMI.

14 

Small Multifamily Low-Income 

Subgoal.

Percentage share of all goal-eligible units in all multifamily properties financed by mortgages 

purchased by the Enterprise in the year that are units in small multifamily properties affordable to low-income families, defined as families with incomes less than or equal to 80 percent of AMI.

2 

C. Measurement Buffers (Referred to as 

‘‘Enforcement Factors’’ in the Proposed 

Rule)—§ 1282.22(b) 

Consistent with the proposed rule, the 

final rule establishes new factors for the 

2025–2027 housing goals period that 

FHFA will apply in determining 

whether to require a housing plan if an 

Enterprise fails to meet certain singlefamily housing goals in 2025–2027. The 

final rule establishes the numerical 

factors as proposed but changes the 

name to ‘‘measurement buffers.’’ 

Specifically, for 2025–2027, if the 

benchmark level for the single-family 

low-income home purchase, very lowincome home purchase, or low-income 

refinance housing goal is higher than 

the market level for the goal, an 

Enterprise that fails to meet the goal will 

not be required to submit a housing plan 

if the Enterprise’s performance meets or 

exceeds: (i) the market level minus 1.3 

percentage points for the low-income 

home purchase goal; (ii) the market 

level minus 0.5 percentage points for 

the very low-income home purchase 

goal; or (iii) the market level minus 1.3 

percentage points for the low-income 

refinance goal. To ensure that an 

Enterprise does not rely entirely on 

these measurement buffers, if an 

Enterprise fails to meet one of the 

applicable goals in both 2025 and 2026, 

the measurement buffer will not apply 

to that goal in 2027. 

D. Multifamily Very Low-Income 

Housing Goal—§§ 1282.11(a)(1); 

1282.13(a) and (c); 1282.15(c) and (e) 

The final rule revises the housing 

goals regulation to refer to the 

multifamily very low-income housing 

subgoal as a goal instead of a subgoal. 

This change is consistent with the 

Safety and Soundness Act, the reference 

to the single-family very low-income 

home purchase goal in 12 CFR 

1282.12(d) as a goal and not a subgoal, 

and FHFA’s practice of referring to 

‘‘multifamily housing goals.’’ 25 FHFA 

received one comment (NDI) supporting 

this proposed change. 

E. Technical Changes—§§ 1282.1; 

1282.11(a)(1); 1282.13 (Header); 

1282.20; 1282.21; 1282.22 

Consistent with the proposed rule, the 

final rule makes minor technical 

changes to the housing goals regulation 

that are intended to better conform the 

regulation to statutory text and existing 

FHFA practices and procedures. Except 

as discussed in this preamble regarding 

proposed changes to § 1282.22(g), FHFA 

received no comments on the proposed 

technical changes. 

The final rule modifies the definition 

of ‘‘designated disaster area’’ in § 1282.1 

as proposed, to reflect that major 

disasters are designated (declared) by 

the President under the Robert T. 

Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency 

Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 5121 et seq.). 

FHFA modified the definition to add the 

reference to the designation by the 

President and deleted the reference to 

‘‘declared by the Federal Government.’’ 

This change eliminates potential 

confusion about which disasters are 

associated with designated disaster 

areas. 

Consistent with the proposed rule, the 

final rule modifies § 1282.11(a)(1) to 

correctly reference the various housing 

goals. That paragraph previously 

referred to one single-family housing 

subgoal and is modified in the final rule 

to reference the two single-family, 

owner-occupied, purchase money 

mortgage housing subgoals. The final 

rule also removes the words ‘‘special 

affordable’’ that until now described the 

multifamily goals and subgoals in 

§ 1282.11(a)(1) and the header in 

§ 1282.13 for simplicity and to 

consistently reference single-family and 

multifamily goals and subgoals. 

Affordability remains a criterion for 

units to count towards meeting the goals 

and subgoal, however. 

In addition, consistent with the 

proposed rule, the final rule makes nonsubstantive changes to the enforcement 

provisions in § 1282.20 and redesignates 

housing plan provisions in § 1282.21 as 

a new § 1282.22. Specifically, the final 

rule modifies § 1282.20 to separate and 

more fully describe the preliminary and 

final determinations of housing goals 

compliance. As modified, § 1282.20 

addresses preliminary determinations of 

housing goals compliance; § 1282.21 

addresses final determinations of 

housing goals compliance. These 

sections also include revised wording 

that conforms to FHFA’s established 

practices. 

The final rule revises and republishes 

newly redesignated § 1282.22 to include 

the measurement buffers for the 2025– 

2027 single-family housing goals in 

paragraph (b). The final rule relocates 

provisions in § 1282.21(b) through (e) to 

§ 1282.22(c) through (f). Paragraph (c)(3) 

includes an additional technical change 

inadvertently omitted in the proposed 

rule to add ‘‘or subgoal’’ for consistency 

with the changes to § 1282.22(a) in the 

proposed and final rules. Paragraph (f) 

includes technical changes to clarify 

that if a proposed amended housing 

plan is not acceptable to the Director, 

the Director may afford the Enterprise 

15 days to submit additional 

amendments to its proposed plan for 

approval or disapproval, rather than 

requiring a ‘‘new’’ proposed plan. 

Except as noted, these changes are 

included in the final rule as proposed in 

the NPRM. 

The final also rule includes the new 

proposed provision at § 1282.22(g) that 

incorporates the housing plan 

enforcement provisions contained in the 


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26 12 U.S.C. 4566. 27See 12 U.S.C. 4562(e)(2)(B). 

28 Details on FHFA’s single-family market models 

are available in the technical report ‘‘The Size of the 

Affordable Mortgage Market: 2025–2027 Enterprise 

Single-Family Housing Goals,’’ available at https:// 

www.fhfa.gov/research/papers/2025-2027- 

enterprise-single-family-housing-goals-12-2024. 

29 Ibid. 

30This refers to the mortgages insured or 

guaranteed by government agencies such as the 

Federal Housing Administration, Department of 

Veterans Affairs, and Rural Housing Service. 

31https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/ 

pressreleases/monetary20240918a.htm. 

Safety and Soundness Act.26 That 

paragraph provides that if the Director 

requires an Enterprise to submit a 

housing plan and the Enterprise refuses 

to submit such a plan, submits an 

unacceptable plan, or fails to comply 

with the plan, the Director may issue a 

cease and desist order in accordance 

with 12 U.S.C. 4581, impose civil 

money penalties in accordance with 12 

U.S.C. 4585, or take any other action 

that the Director determines to be 

appropriate. The Safety and Soundness 

Act provides authority to enforce the 

housing plans, but this authority was 

not previously described in the 

Enterprise housing goals regulation. 

Including these provisions in the final 

rule supports transparency by providing 

a more complete description of FHFA’s 

enforcement authority. This change 

makes it easier for anyone unfamiliar 

with the Safety and Soundness Act to 

understand the potential consequences 

if an Enterprise fails to submit an 

acceptable housing plan or fails to 

comply with the plan as required. This 

is the only technical change addressed 

by a comment on the proposed rule. In 

response to a comment from Fannie Mae 

suggesting that FHFA modify the 

proposed rule language to provide 

clarity about the enforcement options 

available for the housing goals, FHFA is 

including language in § 1282.22(g) to 

indicate that enforcement of housing 

plans will be consistent with 12 U.S.C. 

4566 and any other applicable 

requirements of the Safety and 

Soundness Act. 

IV. Single-Family Housing Goals and 

Subgoals 

A. Factors Considered in Setting the 

Single-Family Housing Goal Benchmark 

Levels 

The Safety and Soundness Act 

requires FHFA to consider the following 

seven factors in setting the single-family 

housing goals: 

1. National housing needs; 

2. Economic, housing, and 

demographic conditions, including 

expected market developments; 

3. The performance and effort of the 

Enterprises toward achieving the 

housing goals in previous years; 

4. The ability of the Enterprises to 

lead the industry in making mortgage 

credit available; 

5. Such other reliable mortgage data 

as may be available; 

6. The size of the purchase money 

conventional mortgage market, or 

refinance conventional mortgage 

market, as applicable, serving each of 

the types of families described, relative 

to the size of the overall purchase 

money mortgage market or the overall 

refinance mortgage market, respectively; 

and 

7. The need to maintain the sound 

financial condition of the Enterprises.27

FHFA has considered each of these 

seven statutory factors in setting the 

benchmark levels for each of the singlefamily housing goals and subgoals in the 

final rule. 

In setting the benchmark levels for the 

single-family housing goals and 

subgoals, FHFA relied on statistical 

market models developed by FHFA to 

evaluate four of the seven factors 

(national housing needs; economic, 

housing, and demographic conditions; 

other reliable mortgage data; and the 

size of the conventional purchase 

money or refinance mortgage segment). 

These market models generate a point 

forecast for each goal as well as a 

confidence interval for the point 

forecast. FHFA also monitors 

information on market developments 

that are not reflected in the model. 

FHFA then considers the other statutory 

factors (performance and effort of the 

Enterprises to lead the industry in 

making mortgage credit available; the 

ability of the Enterprises to do so; and 

the need to maintain sound financial 

condition of the Enterprises). These 

factors are not explicitly modeled in the 

statistical forecast models. Therefore, 

FHFA considered these factors when 

setting the benchmark levels within the 

model generated confidence intervals 

for the 2025–2027 single-family housing 

goals. 

Market forecast models. The purpose 

of FHFA’s market forecast models is to 

forecast the market share of the goalqualifying mortgage originations for the 

2025–2027 period. The models are 

intended to generate reliable forecasts 

rather than to test various economic 

hypotheses about the housing market or 

to explain the relationship between 

variables. Therefore, following standard 

practice among forecasters and 

economists at other federal agencies, 

FHFA estimates a reduced-form 

equation for each of the housing goals 

and fits an Autoregressive Integrated 

Moving Average (or ARIMA) model to 

each goal share. The models look at the 

statistical relationship between (a) the 

historical market share for each singlefamily housing goal or subgoal, as 

calculated from monthly HMDA data, 

and (b) the historical values for various 

factors that may influence the market 

shares, such as interest rates, inflation, 

home prices, home sales, the 

unemployment rate, and other factors. 

The models then project the future 

value of the affordable market share 

using forecast values of the model 

inputs. Separate models are developed 

for each of the single-family housing 

goals and subgoals. 

FHFA has employed similar models 

in past Enterprise housing goals 

rulemaking cycles to generate market 

forecasts. The models are developed 

using monthly series generated from 

HMDA and other data sources, and the 

resulting monthly forecasts are then 

averaged into an annual forecast for 

each of the three years in the goal 

period. The models rely on 20 years of 

HMDA data, from 2004 to 2023, the 

latest year for which public HMDA data 

was available at the time of model 

construction. Additional discussion of 

the market forecast models can be found 

in a technical report on FHFA’s official 

website.28

Current market outlook. There are 

many factors that impact the affordable 

housing market, and changes to any of 

them could significantly impact the 

ability of the Enterprises to meet the 

goals. In developing the market models, 

FHFA used Moody’s forecasts as the 

source for macroeconomic variables 

where available.29 In cases where 

Moody’s forecasts were not available 

(for example, the share of governmentinsured/guaranteed home purchases and 

the share of government-insured/ 

guaranteed refinances), FHFA generated 

and tested its own forecasts as in past 

rulemakings.30 Variables that impact the 

models and the determinations of 

benchmark levels, including interest 

rates, home prices, and the supply of 

affordable housing, are discussed below. 

The Federal Open Market Committee 

(FOMC) of the Federal Reserve, at its 

September 2024 meeting, reiterated its 

commitment to seeking maximum 

employment and inflation at the rate of 

2 percent in the long run, by lowering 

its target range for the federal funds rate 

by 0.5 percentage points to 4.75 percent 

to 5.0 percent.31 In its November 2024 

meeting, the FOMC lowered the target 

range by an additional 0.25 percentage 


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32https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/ 

pressreleases/monetary20241107a.htm. 

33FHFA, ‘‘House Price Index Datasets,’’ available 

at https://www.fhfa.gov/data/hpi/datasets?tab=hpidatasets. 

34FHFA, ‘‘FHFA House Price Index Report— 

Monthly Report,’’ October 2024, available at 

https://www.fhfa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-11/ 

FHFA-HPI-Monthly_10292024.pdf. 

35 Ibid. 

36 ‘‘The State of the Nation’s Housing 2024,’’ Joint 

Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 

2024, p. 10, available at https://

www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/ 

files/Harvard_JCHS_The_State_of_the_Nations_

Housing_2024.pdf. 

37 Ibid. p. 2. 

38Moody’s Analytics, ‘‘Economic Data and 

Forecasts,’’ August 2024. 

39NAR’s HAI is a national index. It measures, 

nationally, whether an average family could qualify 

for a mortgage on a typical home. A typical home 

is defined as the national median-priced, existing 

single-family home as reported by NAR. An average 

family is defined as one earning the median family 

income. The calculation assumes a down payment 

of 20 percent of the home price and a monthly 

payment that does not exceed 25 percent of the 

median family income. An index value of 100 

means that a family earning the median family 

income has exactly enough income to qualify for a 

mortgage on a median-priced home. An index value 

above 100 signifies that a family earning the median 

family income has more than enough income to 

qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home. A 

decrease in the index value over time indicates that 

housing is becoming less affordable. 

40 ‘‘Housing Inventory: Active Listing Count in 

the United States,’’ accessed on November 18, 2024, 

at https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ACTLISCOUUS. 

41Exploring 2023’s Housing Trends and 

Challenges | Housing Matters,’’ Urban Institute, 

January 31, 2024, available at https://

housingmatters.urban.org/research-summary/ 

exploring-2023s-housing-trends-and-challenges. 

42 ‘‘Housing Finance: At a Glance Monthly 

Chartbook, October 2024,’’ | Urban Institute 

Housing Finance Policy Center, Urban Institute,’’ 

Urban Institute, October 30, 2024, p. 22, available 

at https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/2024- 

10/Housing-Finance-At-A-Glance-MonthlyChartbook-October-2024.pdf. 

43 ‘‘Summary of 2022 Data on Mortgage Lending,’’ 

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, June 29, 

2023, available at https://

www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/hmda/ 

summary-of-2022-data-on-mortgage-lending/. 

44 ‘‘Summary of 2023 Data on Mortgage Lending,’’ 

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, July 11, 

2024, available at https://

www.consumerfinance.gov/data-research/hmda/ 

summary-of-2023-data-on-mortgage-lending/. 

45Moody’s Analytics, ‘‘Economic Data and 

Forecasts,’’ August 2024. 

46Edward Friedman, ‘‘U.S. Macroeconomic 

Outlook Baseline and Alternative Scenarios,’’ 

Moody’s Analytics, 2024. 

points to 4.5 percent to 4.75 percent.32

Moody’s August 2024 Baseline forecast 

does not include these cuts but assumes 

that the FOMC will cut rates by 0.25 

percentage points in September 2024 

and December 2024, with further cuts to 

the federal funds rate to 4 percent by the 

fourth quarter of 2025. 

The forecast projects that the 30-year 

fixed mortgage rate will remain 

elevated, and only decline 0.3 

percentage points from 6.4 percent in 

2025 to 6.1 percent in 2026, and then 

decline to 6.0 percent in 2027. Home 

prices increased rapidly in 2021 and 

2022 as indicated by FHFA’s purchaseonly House Price Index (HPI), due to a 

combination of high demand for 

housing resulting from demographic 

trends and limited supply of homes for 

sale.33 The rapid rise in mortgage rates 

through 2022 and their stabilization at 

new elevated levels in 2023 slowed 

down the pace of house price growth. 

Although slower, house price growth 

was still significant, rising 4.2 percent 

from August 2023 to August 2024.34

FHFA noted in its monthly HPI report 

that it was the sixth consecutive month 

of modest house price growth.35

Moody’s predicts that home price 

appreciation will slow down even more 

in 2025. Moody’s August 2024 forecast 

of the same HPI index expects the 

annual rates of house price growth to be 

1.0, 1.5, and 2.1 percent in 2025, 2026, 

and 2027, respectively. 

Even though mortgage interest rates 

are forecast to decline modestly, many 

households maintain low mortgage rates 

that are likely to remain below the 

prevailing mortgage rates, and therefore 

they are less likely to refinance. The 

refinance share of overall mortgage 

originations declined from 62.4 percent 

in 2020 to 19.2 percent in 2023. 

Moody’s forecasts this share to decline 

further to 18.0 percent in 2024, but rise 

to 19.2, 25.7, and 33.8 percent in 2025, 

2026, and 2027, respectively. 

Taken together, the elevated mortgage 

interest rates and high home price levels 

will likely continue to impact the ability 

of low- and very low-income 

households to purchase homes. The 

median sales price for existing singlefamily homes to median household 

income ratio, which is often used to 

measure affordability, rose to 5.1 in 

2022, up from 4.1 in 2019.36 As a result, 

between 2019 and 2022, the number of 

cost-burdened homeowners increased 

by 3 million households.37 Housing 

affordability in 2023, as measured by 

Moody’s forecast of the Housing 

Affordability Index (HAI) provided by 

the National Association of Realtors 

(NAR), was at its lowest level since 

1989. This factor is projected to rise 

even more modestly in the August 2024 

forecast used to support the final rule 

than was projected in the February 2024 

forecast (used to support the proposed 

rule).38 39

The supply of affordable housing has 

not kept pace with the growth of 

demand. This has led to a shortage of 

homes, which became more acute 

during the COVID–19 pandemic. 

Although, for example, the October 

2024 active listing count is 29.2 percent 

higher that it was in October 2023, it is 

still 21.1 percent lower than it was at 

the same time in 2019.40 Single-family 

housing starts, or the measure of new 

one-to-four-unit residential 

construction, dropped 10.8 percent from 

2021 to 2022, and continued to decline 

in 2023.41 For example, the Mortgage 

Bankers Association (MBA) estimates 

housing starts to have decreased about 

8.8 percent from 1.55 million in 2022 to 

1.42 million in 2023. MBA forecasts 

housing starts to decline about 4.6 

percent in 2024, before rising about 3.4 

percent in 2025.42

The combination of high home prices 

and elevated mortgage rates along with 

continued limited housing supply has 

also contributed to a sharp decline in 

purchase loan origination volumes, as 

new homes are less affordable and 

existing homeowners are less likely to 

move and relinquish their low interest 

rate mortgages. For example, in 2022, 

lenders reported a 51 percent decrease 

in originated closed-end home loans 

from 2021 volumes.43 In 2023, there 

were further declines, with lenders 

reporting a 34.5 percent decrease in 

originated closed-end home loans from 

2022 volumes.44 Moody’s Baseline 

scenario for August 2024 shows singlefamily purchase mortgage originations 

similarly down in 2023, when 

originations totaled $1.33 trillion, 

compared to 2021, when originations 

totaled $1.86 trillion.45

Furthermore, this observation from 

Moody’s February 2024 forecast is still 

applicable: ‘‘Life events such as 

divorces, deaths, and the birth of 

children along with moderating interest 

rates will prompt more homeowners to 

list their homes in 2024 than in 2023, 

but the rise in existing home sales is 

expected to be limited.’’ 46

FHFA continues to monitor how these 

changes in the housing market, as well 

as other market conditions, may impact 

various segments of the market, 

including those targeted by the housing 

goals. 

Post-model adjustments. While 

FHFA’s models can address and forecast 

many of the factors referenced in the 

statute, including increasing interest 

rates and rising property values, some 

factors are not captured in the models. 

FHFA, therefore, considers additional 

factors when selecting the benchmark 

level within the model-generated 

confidence interval for each of the 

single-family housing goals. 

Demographic trends. Although the 

model considers some demographic 

factors, specific demographic changes, 


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47NAR, ‘‘2023 Home Buyers and Sellers 

Generational Trends Report,’’ 2023, p. 8, available 

at https://www.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/ 

documents/2023-home-buyers-and-sellersgenerational-trends-report-03-28-2023.pdf. 

48 Ibid. 

49NAR, ‘‘2024 Home Buyers and Sellers 

Generational Trends Report,’’ 2024, p. 8, available 

at https://www.nar.realtor/sites/default/files/ 

documents/2024-home-buyers-and-sellersgenerational-trends-04-03-2024.pdf. 

50 Daniel McCue, ‘‘Number of U.S. Households 

Projected to Increase by 12.2 Million in the Next 

Decade,’’ Joint Center for Housing Studies of 

Harvard University, December 20, 2018, available at 

https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/number-of-u-shouseholds-projected-to-increase-by-12-2-millionin-the-next-decade. 

such as the housing demand patterns of 

Millennials or the growth of minority 

households, are not included explicitly 

in the market forecast models. FHFA 

considers those demographic changes 

that are not captured by the model, 

along with the other factors listed in this 

section, as post-model adjustments 

when setting the housing goals 

benchmark levels. According to NAR, 

Millennials had represented the largest 

share of homebuyers for almost a decade 

until 2022.47 Although they lost that 

spot to Baby Boomers in 2022, 

Millennials once again represented the 

largest share of homebuyers in 2023, 

increasing from 28 percent to 38 

percent.48 49 Furthermore, the number of 

minority households is projected to 

grow by 22 percent, or 9.3 million, from 

2018 to 2028.50

Ability of the Enterprises to lead the 

mortgage market. The Enterprises’ 

overall share of the mortgage market is 

subject to fluctuation, as well. In the 

years preceding the 2008 financial 

crisis, the Enterprises’ share of the 

market dropped to about 44 percent. As 

shown in Graph 1, that share rose to 

about 65 percent in 2012, but declined 

to about 55 percent in 2015. The 

Enterprises’ share remained relatively 

stable until 2019, then jumped to 67 

percent in 2020 as the Enterprises 

continued to acquire mortgages even as 

others in the market stepped back 

during the COVID–19 pandemic. Since 

then, the Enterprises’ share has declined 

as the shares of government-guaranteed 

and government-insured loans, as well 

as the shares of other market 

participants, have grown. Governmentguaranteed and government-insured 

loans are not eligible for housing goals 

credit. 

Graph 1 also shows that the 

Enterprises’ share of the conforming 

mortgage market returned to prepandemic levels in 2022 but declined 

significantly in 2023. Preliminary data 

shows further declines in 2024. Over the 

same period, the total Government share 

of the mortgage market (including the 

Federal Housing Administration, 

Department of Veterans Affairs, and 

Rural Housing Service) and the Other 

share (such as retained bank portfolios) 

expanded. 

Need to maintain the sound financial 

condition of the Enterprises. During a 

period of affordability challenges and 

increased uncertainty around market 

conditions, setting the single-family 

housing goals benchmark levels too high 

could compromise safe and sound 

lending standards. FHFA carefully 

considered benchmark levels that would 

support access to mortgage lending for 

low-income families, families that 

reside in low-income areas, and very 

low-income families, while still 

allowing the Enterprises to adequately 

support all other segments of the 

market. 

Past performance and effort of the 

Enterprises to achieve the housing goals. 

Table 1 provides the annual 

performance of both Enterprises on the 

single-family housing goals between 

2010 and 2023. 


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100% 

90% 

80% 

70% 

60% 

40% 

30% 

0% 

Graph 1: Shares of the Conforming Mortgage Market 

~'-) 

1111 Fannie Mae and Freddie :rv1ac 

mother 

,., v 

Government 

Source: National Mortgage Database 

*2024 data is prelunmaiy aud based on best available infonnation at the time 
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 106265 

TABLE 1—ENTERPRISE SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSING GOALS PERFORMANCE

[2010–2023] 

2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 

Low-Income Home Purchase Goal 

Actual Market ................................................ 27.2 26.5 26.6 24.0 22.8 23.6 22.9 24.3 25.5 26.6 27.6 26.7 26.8 26.3 

Benchmark .................................................... 27.0 27.0 23.0 23.0 23.0 24.0 24.0 24.0 24.0 24.0 24.0 24.0 28.0 28.0 

Fannie Mae Performance ............................. * 25.1 * 25.8 25.6 23.8 23.5 * 23.5 22.9 25.5 28.2 27.8 29.0 28.7 27.4 + 26.1 

Freddie Mac Performance ............................ 27.8 * 23.3 24.4 * 21.8 * 21.0 * 22.3 23.8 * 23.2 25.8 27.4 28.5 27.4 29.0 28.5 

Very Low-Income Home Purchase Goal 

Actual Market ................................................ 8.1 8.0 7.7 6.3 5.7 5.8 5.4 5.9 6.5 6.6 7.0 6.8 6.8 6.5 

Benchmark .................................................... 8.0 8.0 7.0 7.0 7.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 6.0 7.0 7.0 

Fannie Mae Performance ............................. * 7.2 * 7.6 7.3 * 6.0 5.7 * 5.6 * 5.2 5.9 6.7 6.5 7.3 7.4 6.9 + 6.0 

Freddie Mac Performance ............................ 8.4 * 6.6 7.1 * 5.5 * 4.9 * 5.4 5.7 * 5.7 6.3 6.8 6.9 6.3 7.1 6.8 

Low-Income Areas Home Purchase Goal 

Actual Market ................................................ 24.0 22.0 23.2 22.1 22.1 19.8 19.7 21.5 22.6 22.9 22.4 19.1 28.0 28.1 

Benchmark .................................................... 24.0 24.0 20.0 21.0 18.0 19.0 17.0 18.0 18.0 19.0 18.0 14.0 20.0 20.0 

Fannie Mae Performance ............................. 24.1 22.4 22.3 21.6 22.7 20.4 20.2 22.9 25.1 24.5 23.6 20.3 29.6 28.1 

Freddie Mac Performance ............................ * 23.8 * 19.2 20.6 * 20 20.1 19.0 19.9 20.9 22.6 22.9 21.8 18.0 28.7 29.5 

Low-Income Census Tracts Home Purchase Subgoal 

Actual Market ................................................ .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 9.7 9.8 

Benchmark .................................................... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 4.0 4.0 

Fannie Mae Performance ............................. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 9.3 9.3 

Freddie Mac Performance ............................ .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 9.1 9.4 

Minority Census Tracts Home Purchase Subgoal 

Actual Market ................................................ .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 12.1 12.5 

Benchmark .................................................... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 10.0 10.0 

Fannie Mae Performance ............................. .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 13.5 12.6 

Freddie Mac Performance ............................ .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... .......... 12.8 13.2 

Low-Income Refinance Goal 

Actual Market ................................................ 20.2 21.5 22.3 24.3 25.0 22.5 19.8 25.4 30.7 24.0 21.0 26.1 37.3 40.3 

Benchmark .................................................... 21.0 21.0 20.0 20.0 20.0 21.0 21.0 21.0 21.0 21.0 21.0 21.0 26.0 26.0 

Fannie Mae Performance ............................. 20.9 23.1 21.8 24.3 26.5 22.1 * 19.5 24.8 31.2 23.8 21.2 26.2 34.7 38.4 

Freddie Mac Performance ............................ 22.0 23.4 22.4 24.1 26.4 22.8 21.0 24.8 27.3 22.4 * 19.7 24.8 37.1 43.2 

* Numbers marked with an asterisk indicate that the Enterprise failed to meet the goal. 

+ Numbers marked with a plus sign indicate that FHFA determined the goal to be infeasible. 

B. Benchmark Levels for the SingleFamily Housing Goals for 2025–2027 in 

the Final Rule 

The final rule establishes the 

following benchmark levels for the 

single-family housing goals and 

subgoals for 2025–2027: 

1. Low-Income Home Purchase Goal 

The low-income home purchase goal 

is based on the percentage share of all 

conventional, conforming, single-family, 

owner-occupied home purchase 

mortgages purchased by an Enterprise 

that are made to low-income families, 

defined as families with incomes less 

than or equal to 80 percent of AMI. 

Consistent with the proposed rule and 

FHFA’s market model, the final rule sets 

the annual low-income home purchase 

housing goal benchmark level for 2025– 

2027 at 25 percent. While this 

benchmark level is below the current 

benchmark level of 28 percent for 2022– 

2024, it is above the 24 percent 

benchmark level that was in place from 

2015 through 2021 and is consistent 

with the updated forecast using 

Moody’s August 2024 baseline forecast 

and 2023 HMDA data. As explained 

further below, FHFA believes that this 

benchmark level is appropriate to 

enable the Enterprises to fulfill their 

statutory duty to facilitate the financing 

of affordable housing for all low-income 

families without compromising safe and 

sound lending standards during a 

period of affordability challenges and 

increased uncertainty around market 

conditions. 

TABLE 2—SINGLE-FAMILY LOW-INCOME HOME PURCHASE GOAL

Year 

Historical performance Projected forecast 

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 

Actual Market Level .......................................................................................... 27.6% 26.7% 26.8% 26.3% ............ ............ ............ ............

Benchmark Level .............................................................................................. 24.0% 24.0% 28.0% 28.0% 28.0% 25.0% 25.0% 25.0% 

Current Market Forecast ................................................................................... ................ ................ ................ ................ 26.3% 

+/¥ 

2.6% 

26.2% 

+/¥ 

4.4% 

25.9% 

+/¥ 

5.7% 

25.7% 

+/¥ 

6.7% 

Fannie Mae Performance 

Low-Income Home Purchase Mortgages ......................................................... 374,376 375,569 278,799 189,439 ............ ............ ............ ............

Total Home Purchase Mortgages ..................................................................... 1,288,806 1,306,459 1,016,371 726,139 ............ ............ ............ ............


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1

I I I I I I I I I 

I I I I I I I I I 

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 

I I I I I I I I I 

I I I I I I I I I 

I I I I I I I I I I I I I I 
106266 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

51FHFA’s final determination of Fannie Mae’s 

performance for 2023, available at https://

www.fhfa.gov/sites/default/files/2024-11/2023- 

Final-Determination-Letter-Fannie-Mae.pdf. 

52 89 FR 70127, 70133 (citing ‘‘Data Point: 2022 

Mortgage Market Activity and Trends,’’ Consumer 

Financial Protection Bureau, 2023, p.8, available at 

https://files.consumerfinance.gov/f/documents/ 

cfpb_data-point-mortgage-market-activity-trends_

report_2023-09.pdf; Alexander Hermann and 

Peyton Whitney, ‘‘Home Price-To-Income Ratio 

Reaches Record High,’’ Joint Center for Housing 

Studies of Harvard University, January 22, 2024, 

available at https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/blog/ 

home-price-income-ratio-reaches-record-high-0; 

and Moody’s Analytics, ‘‘Economic Data and 

Forecasts,’’ February 2024). 

TABLE 2—SINGLE-FAMILY LOW-INCOME HOME PURCHASE GOAL—Continued 

Year 

Historical performance Projected forecast 

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 

Low-Income % of Home Purchase Mortgages ................................................. 29.0% 28.7% 27.4% 26.1% ............ ............ ............ ............

Freddie Mac Performance 

Low-Income Home Purchase Mortgages ......................................................... 280,561 329,426 264,118 209,432 ............ ............ ............ ............

Total Home Purchase Mortgages ..................................................................... 982,888 1,201,540 911,037 735,932 ............ ............ ............ ............

Low-Income % of Home Purchase Mortgages ................................................. 28.5% 27.4% 29.0% 28.5% ............ ............ ............ ............

Recent performance and forecasts. As 

shown in Table 2, between 2020 and 

2023, the low-income purchase market 

level, as measured by HMDA data, 

declined from 27.6 percent to 26.3 

percent. FHFA’s current model forecasts 

that market level to continue declining 

and end below 26 percent in 2027 with 

an average forecast midpoint value of 

25.9 percent. Freddie Mac’s 

performance on this goal was 29.0 

percent in 2022 and 28.5 percent in 

2023, which was above both the 

benchmark and the market levels in 

those two years. Fannie Mae’s 

performance in 2022 was 27.4 percent, 

which was below the benchmark level 

but above the market level. However, in 

2023, Fannie Mae’s performance was 

26.1 percent, which was below both the 

benchmark and the market levels. FHFA 

determined that while Fannie Mae had 

missed the goal, the goal itself was not 

feasible for the Enterprise in 2023.51

FHFA rationale. As FHFA noted in 

the proposed rule preamble, ‘‘[t]he 

combination of high home prices and 

elevated mortgage rates along with 

continued limited housing supply has 

also contributed to a sharp decline in 

purchase loan origination volumes, as 

new homes are less affordable and 

existing homeowners are less likely to 

give up their low interest rate mortgage. 

For example, in 2022, lenders reported 

a 51 percent decrease in closed-end, 

site-built, single-family mortgage 

originations from 2021 volumes. Home 

prices grew by 43 percent between 2019 

and 2022, while incomes grew by just 7 

percent over the same time.’’ 52 These 

trends are reflected in the declining 

market share for the low-income home 

purchase goal segment as measured by 

HMDA data. Table 2 shows the decline 

from 26.8 percent in 2022 to 26.3 

percent in 2023 amidst a sharp 

contraction in mortgage origination 

volume. Taking the market forecast 

average and current and forecast market 

conditions into consideration, the 

benchmark level in the final rule is set 

at 25 percent to encourage the 

Enterprises to continue to find ways to 

support low-income borrowers under 

current and forecast market conditions 

while not compromising safe and sound 

lending standards. Some commenters on 

the proposed rule supported the 

proposal to lower the benchmark level 

for this goal from the current 28 percent 

to 25 percent, recognizing the impact of 

a variety of market challenges and 

describing the proposed benchmark 

level as appropriate. Other commenters 

disagreed with the proposed lowered 

benchmark level, arguing that the 

Enterprises should be leading the 

market. Both Enterprises were 

supportive of the proposed benchmark 

level of 25 percent, describing it as 

meaningful, prudent, and consistent 

with the Safety and Soundness Act. 

After considering the comments and 

updated economic data that became 

available after FHFA issued the 

proposed rule, FHFA is adopting the 

proposed benchmark level of 25 percent 

in the final rule. 

2. Very Low-Income Home Purchase 

Goal 

The very low-income home purchase 

goal is based on the percentage share of 

all conventional, conforming, singlefamily, owner-occupied home purchase 

mortgages purchased by an Enterprise 

that are for very low-income families, 

defined as families with incomes less 

than or equal to 50 percent of AMI. 

Consistent with the proposed rule and 

FHFA’s market model, the final rule sets 

the annual very low-income home 

purchase housing goal benchmark level 

for 2025–2027 at 6 percent. While this 

benchmark level is below the current 

benchmark level of 7 percent, it is in 

line with the benchmark level in place 

from 2015–2021 and the most recent 

market forecast midpoint average of 6.0 

percent. FHFA has determined that a 6 

percent benchmark level will serve as 

an appropriate target that will promote 

Enterprise efforts in this market 

segment. 

TABLE 3—SINGLE-FAMILY VERY LOW-INCOME HOME PURCHASE GOAL

Year 

Historical performance Projected forecast 

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 

Actual Market Level .......................................................................................... 7.0% 6.8% 6.8% 6.5% ............ ............ ............ ............

Benchmark Level .............................................................................................. 6.0% 6.0% 7.0% 7.0% 7.0% 6.0% 6.0% 6.0% 

Current Market Forecast ................................................................................... ................ ................ ................ ................ 6.2% 

+/¥ 

1.1% 

6.1% 

+/¥ 

2.0% 

6.0% 

+/¥ 

2.5% 

5.9% 

+/¥ 

3.0% 

Fannie Mae Performance 

Very Low-Income Home Purchase Mortgages ................................................. 93,909 97,154 69,919 43,792 ............ ............ ............ ............

Total Home Purchase Mortgages ..................................................................... 1,288,806 1,306,459 1,016,371 726,139 ............ ............ ............ ............


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 106267 

TABLE 3—SINGLE-FAMILY VERY LOW-INCOME HOME PURCHASE GOAL—Continued 

Year 

Historical performance Projected forecast 

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 

Very Low-Income % of Home Purchase Mortgages ........................................ 7.3% 7.4% 6.9% 6.0% ............ ............ ............ ............

Freddie Mac Performance 

Very Low-Income Home Purchase Mortgages ................................................. 68,216 75,945 64,850 50,244 ............ ............ ............ ............

Total Home Purchase Mortgages ..................................................................... 982,888 1,201,540 911,037 735,932 ............ ............ ............ ............

Very Low-Income % of Home Purchase Mortgages ........................................ 6.9% 6.3% 7.1% 6.8% ............ ............ ............ ............

Recent performance and forecasts. As 

shown in Table 3, between 2020 and 

2023, the very low-income purchase 

market level, as measured using HMDA 

data, declined from 7.0 percent to 6.5 

percent. FHFA’s current model forecasts 

that the market for this goal will fall 

from 6.1 percent to 5.9 percent for the 

2025–2027 period. While Freddie Mac’s 

performance in 2022 and 2023 was 

above both the benchmark and market 

levels, Fannie Mae’s performance in 

2022 was above the market level but 

below the benchmark level. In 2023, 

Fannie Mae’s performance was below 

both the market and the benchmark 

levels. FHFA determined that the goal 

was not feasible for the Enterprise in 

2023. 

FHFA rationale. The 6 percent 

benchmark level in the final rule should 

encourage the Enterprises to continue 

their efforts to promote safe and 

sustainable lending to very low-income 

families. FHFA believes that setting the 

benchmark level at 6 percent is 

appropriate, reasonable, and supported 

by the current market forecast. As noted 

in section II, some commenters on the 

proposed rule supported the proposal to 

lower the benchmark level for this goal 

from the current 7 percent to 6 percent, 

recognizing the market challenges, and 

describing it as appropriate. Other 

commenters disagreed with the 

proposed lowered benchmark level, 

arguing that the Enterprises should be 

leading the market. Both Enterprises 

supported the proposed benchmark 

level of 6 percent, describing it as 

meaningful, prudent, and consistent 

with the Safety and Soundness Act, 

while also noting that it will be 

challenging to meet. After considering 

the comments and updated economic 

data that became available after FHFA 

issued the proposed rule, FHFA is 

adopting the proposed benchmark level 

of 6 percent in the final rule. 

3. Minority Census Tracts Home 

Purchase Subgoal 

The minority census tracts home 

purchase subgoal is based on the 

percentage share of home purchase 

mortgages on conventional, conforming, 

single-family, owner-occupied 

properties to borrowers with incomes no 

greater than 100 percent of AMI in 

minority census tracts. The Safety and 

Soundness Act defines minority census 

tracts as those with a minority 

population of 30 percent or more and 

median census tract income of less than 

100 percent of AMI. Consistent with the 

proposed rule and FHFA’s market 

model, the final rule increases the 

annual benchmark level for this subgoal 

for 2025–2027 from the current 10 

percent to 12 percent. This benchmark 

level is slightly below the average 

market forecast of 12.7 percent. FHFA 

has determined that this benchmark 

level will serve as an appropriate target 

that will promote Enterprise efforts in 

this market segment. 

TABLE 4—SINGLE-FAMILY MINORITY CENSUS TRACTS HOME PURCHASE SUBGOAL

Year 

Historical performance Projected forecast 

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 

Actual Market Level .......................................................................................... 9.2% 9.5% 12.1% 12.2% ............ ............ ............ ............

Benchmark Level .............................................................................................. N/A N/A 10.0% 10.0% 10.0% 12.0% 12.0% 12.0% 

Current Market Forecast ................................................................................... ................ ................ ................ ................ 12.3% 

+/¥ 

1.4% 

12.5% 

+/¥ 

2.3% 

12.7% 

+/¥ 

3.0% 

13.0% 

+/¥ 

3.5% 

Fannie Mae Performance 

Minority Census Tracts Home Purchase Mortgages ........................................ 129,996 143,340 137,474 91,202 ............ ............ ............ ............

Total Home Purchase Mortgages ..................................................................... 1,288,806 1,306,459 1,016,371 726,139 ............ ............ ............ ............

Minority Census Tracts % of Home Purchase Mortgages ............................... 10.1% 11.0% 13.5% 12.6% ............ ............ ............ ............

Freddie Mac Performance 

Minority Census Tracts Home Purchase Mortgages ........................................ 89,998 111,691 116,223 97,378 ............ ............ ............ ............

Total Home Purchase Mortgages ..................................................................... 982,888 1,201,540 911,037 735,932 ............ ............ ............ ............

Minority Census Tracts % of Home Purchase Mortgages ............................... 9.2% 9.3% 12.8% 13.2% ............ ............ ............ ............

The numbers in italics refer to FHFA’s tabulations of the market and Enterprise performance had this goal been in place before 2022. 

Recent performance and forecasts. 

Table 4 shows the implied market levels 

and Enterprise performance in 2020 and 

2021 (before FHFA established this 

subgoal), as well as market levels and 

Enterprise performance since this 

subgoal was established. Both 

Enterprises exceeded the benchmark 

and market levels for this subgoal in 

2022 and 2023. The table also shows a 

pronounced increase in the market 

levels and in both Enterprises’ 

performance on this subgoal beginning 

in 2022, which was the first year of the 

new subgoal as well as the first year of 

new census tract boundaries based on 

the 2020 census. The average AMI 

increase in 2022 was unusually high, 

which led to more borrowers qualifying 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
106268 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

53 ‘‘HUD Publishes FY 2022 Income Limits; 99% 

of Counties Will See Increase,’’ Novogradac, April 

19, 2022, available at https://www.novoco.com/ 

notes-from-novogradac/hud-publishes-fy-2022- 

income-limits-99-counties-will-see-increase. 

54See https://transition.fcc.gov/form477/Geo/ 

more_about_2020_census_tracts.pdf. 

55FHFA’s tabulations of census tracts data. 

56 12 U.S.C. 4502(29). 

57 86 FR 73641, 73651 (Dec. 28, 2021). 

for this subgoal.53 The number of census 

tracts rose from about 74,000 to 85,000 

in the 2020 census, and the share of 

minority census tracts rose from 32.9 

percent to 35.2 percent with this census 

update, leading to more loans qualifying 

for this subgoal.54 55 The imposition of 

the new subgoal also meant additional 

attention and effort at the Enterprises to 

meet the new subgoal’s benchmark 

level. With changes in the census tract 

boundaries, unusually high AMI 

increases, and the imposition of the new 

subgoal all occurring in 2022, it is 

difficult to isolate and conclusively 

determine the specific effect of each of 

these factors on the higher performance 

of the market and the Enterprises. FHFA 

will continue to analyze this trend. 

FHFA rationale. One commenter 

suggested that FHFA greatly increase 

the benchmark level for this subgoal 

given that the statutory definition of 

‘‘minority census tract’’ is broad. As 

noted, the definition of ‘‘minority 

census tract’’ is statutory, and FHFA 

first established this subgoal in the 

2022–2024 housing goals final rule.56

For the 2022–2024 housing goals, FHFA 

set the benchmark level for this subgoal 

at 10 percent.57 Given that the subgoal 

is still relatively new, an incremental 

increase over the benchmark level in the 

previous housing goals period will 

further the same purposes without being 

disruptive to the market. The 12 percent 

benchmark level is an appropriate level 

given the recent market and Enterprise 

performance, and the updated model 

forecast. FHFA believes that this 

benchmark level emphasizes the 

importance of providing access to 

mortgage credit for borrowers with 

incomes at or below 100 percent of AMI 

who reside or seek to reside in minority 

census tracts while taking current 

market conditions into consideration. 

Commenters strongly supported the 

proposed increase in the benchmark 

level to 12 percent. Several commenters 

highlighted the positive impact the 

proposed benchmark level would have 

on ensuring the Enterprises fulfill their 

statutory duty to facilitate the financing 

of affordable housing for low- and 

moderate-income families, including 

families of color. After considering the 

comments and updated economic data 

that became available after FHFA issued 

the proposed rule, FHFA is adopting the 

proposed benchmark level of 12 percent 

in the final rule. 

4. Low-Income Census Tracts Home 

Purchase Subgoal 

The low-income census tracts home 

purchase subgoal is based on the 

percentage share of conventional, 

conforming, single-family, owneroccupied home purchase mortgages that 

are: (1) to borrowers (regardless of 

income) in low-income census tracts 

that are not minority census tracts; and 

(2) to borrowers with incomes greater 

than 100 percent of AMI in low-income 

census tracts that are also minority 

census tracts. Consistent with the 

proposed rule, the final rule sets the 

annual benchmark level for this subgoal 

for 2025–2027 at 4 percent, which is the 

same as the benchmark level for the 

2022–2024 housing goals period. FHFA 

recognizes that this benchmark level is 

significantly lower than both the 

midpoint of the confidence intervals of 

the market forecast and the recent 

performance of the Enterprises. 

However, FHFA has determined that a 

relatively low benchmark level for this 

subgoal is appropriate because the 

subgoal includes housing goals credit 

for higher-income borrowers (higher 

than 100 percent of AMI) that may have 

ready access to mortgage credit even 

when purchasing homes in low-income 

census tracts. FHFA’s tabulation of 2023 

HMDA data shows that 70 percent of the 

loans that qualified for credit under this 

subgoal were made to borrowers at or 

above 100 percent of AMI. 

TABLE 5—SINGLE-FAMILY LOW-INCOME CENSUS TRACTS HOME PURCHASE SUBGOAL

Year 

Historical performance Projected forecast 

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 

Actual Market Level .......................................................................................... 8.5% 9.6% 9.7% 9.8% ............ ............ ............ ............

Benchmark Level .............................................................................................. N/A N/A 4.0% 4.0% 4.0% 4.0% 4.0% 4.0% 

Current Market Forecast ................................................................................... ................ ................ ................ ................ 10.1% 

+/¥ 

0.7% 

10.1% 

+/¥ 

1.1% 

10.1% 

+/¥ 

1.5% 

10.1% 

+/¥ 

1.7% 

Fannie Mae Performance 

Low-Income Census Tracts Home Purchase Mortgages ................................. 106,362 122,177 94,864 67,844 ............ ............ ............ ............

Total Home Purchase Mortgages ..................................................................... 1,288,806 1,306,459 1,016,371 726,139 ............ ............ ............ ............

Low-Income Census Tracts % of Home Purchase Mortgages ........................ 8.3% 9.4% 9.3% 9.3% ............ ............ ............ ............

Freddie Mac Performance 

Low-Income Census Tracts Home Purchase Mortgages ................................. 78,436 104,401 82,883 69,459 ............ ............ ............ ............

Total Home Purchase Mortgages ..................................................................... 982,888 1,201,540 911,037 735,932 ............ ............ ............ ............

Low-Income Census Tracts % of Home Purchase Mortgages ........................ 8.0% 8.7% 9.1% 9.4% ............ ............ ............ ............

The numbers in italics refer to FHFA’s tabulations of the market and Enterprise performance had this goal been in place before 2022. 

Recent performance and forecasts. 

Table 5 shows that both Enterprises 

exceeded the benchmark level for this 

subgoal in 2022 and 2023. FHFA’s 

current model forecasts that the market 

for this subgoal will remain around 10.1 

percent for 2025–2027. 

FHFA rationale. The comments on 

this subgoal summarized in section II 

indicate that some commenters were 

unclear about the structure of this 

subgoal as well as FHFA’s intent in 

setting a benchmark level well below its 

forecasted share. The benchmark is set 

at a level that balances the need for 

access to credit in low-income census 

tracts with the concern that a higher 

benchmark level could result in an 

incentive for the Enterprises to purchase 

loans made to higher-income borrowers 

in low-income census tracts, leading to 

displacement of low-income families in 

both low-income and minority census 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1

I I I I I 
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 106269 

58 86 FR 47398, 47408 (Aug. 25, 2021). 59 Disaster declarations are listed on the Federal 

Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) website at 

https://www.fema.gov/disasters. 

tracts. As FHFA explained when it first 

proposed implementing the minority 

census tracts home purchase subgoal in 

2021, ‘‘[u]nder the proposed rule, for 

loans purchased from areas that meet 

the criteria for both minority and lowincome census tracts, the borrower’s 

AMI would determine under which 

subgoal the loan would be eligible. If the 

borrower’s income is less than or equal 

to 100 percent of AMI, the loan would 

be counted towards the minority census 

tracts [home purchase] subgoal, and if 

the borrower’s income is above 100 

percent of AMI, the loan would be 

counted towards the low-income census 

tracts [home purchase] subgoal.’’ 58

FHFA notes that the single-family lowincome census tracts home purchase 

subgoal is not defined to cap the 

borrower’s income relative to AMI. For 

instance, as displayed in Table 6, 

FHFA’s analysis of HMDA data shows 

that approximately 68.7 percent of the 

loans that were made in 2023 that met 

the criteria for the subgoal were made to 

borrowers at or above 100 percent of 

AMI. 

TABLE 6—LOW-INCOME CENSUS TRACTS SUBGOAL: BORROWER INCOME DISTRIBUTION

Borrower incomes relative to AMI (HMDA) 2019 

(%) 

2020 

(%) 

2021 

(%) 

2022 

(%) 

2023 

(%) 

Borrower Income ≤50% AMI ................................................ 9.1 10.1 9.2 7.3 7.4 

Borrower Income >50% and ≤80% AMI .............................. 16.8 17.6 16.7 14.0 15.1 

Borrower Income >80% and ≤100% AMI ............................ 7.6 7.6 7.7 6.8 7.2 

Borrower Income >100% and ≤120% AMI .......................... 17.5 16.9 17.4 19.2 19.1 

Borrower Income >120% AMI ............................................. 47.2 45.8 47.3 50.7 49.6 

Income Missing .................................................................... 1.9 1.9 1.8 2.1 1.6 

Total .............................................................................. 100 100 100 100 100 

Source: FHFA tabulation of HMDA data. 

As noted in the proposed rule 

preamble, FHFA is selecting a 

benchmark level lower than its model 

forecast midpoint and lower than recent 

Enterprise performance to avoid 

exacerbating the displacement of lowincome residents in these low-income, 

non-minority census tracts as well as in 

low-income, minority census tracts. 

Setting this lower benchmark level 

addresses concerns about incentivizing 

purchases of loans to higher-income 

borrowers in low-income census tracts. 

However, this benchmark level is also 

intended to encourage the Enterprises to 

continue providing critically needed 

access to mortgage credit in low-income 

census tracts. After considering the 

comments and updated economic data 

that became available after FHFA issued 

the proposed rule, FHFA is adopting the 

proposed benchmark level of 4 percent 

in the final rule. 

5. Low-Income Areas Home Purchase 

Goal 

The benchmark level for the overall 

low-income areas housing goal is set 

annually by FHFA notice based on the 

sum of the benchmark levels for the 

low-income census tracts housing 

subgoal and the minority census tracts 

housing subgoal, plus an adjustment 

factor reflecting the additional 

incremental share of mortgages for lowand moderate-income families in 

designated disaster areas. FHFA will 

continue to set a benchmark level for 

the overall low-income areas housing 

goal that will reflect the adjustment 

factor for mortgages to families with 

incomes less than or equal to 100 

percent of AMI who are located in 

federally declared disaster areas.59

Accordingly, the low-income areas 

home purchase goal benchmark level is 

not included in the final rule. During 

the 2025–2027 housing goals period, 

FHFA will continue its annual practice 

to notify the Enterprises by letter of the 

benchmark level for the overall lowincome areas housing goal for each year. 

6. Low-Income Refinance Goal 

The low-income refinance goal is 

based on the percentage share of all 

conventional, conforming, single-family, 

owner-occupied refinance mortgages 

purchased by an Enterprise that are for 

low-income families, defined as families 

with incomes less than or equal to 80 

percent of AMI. Consistent with the 

proposed rule and the updated FHFA 

market model, the final rule sets the 

annual benchmark level for this goal for 

2025–2027 at 26 percent, which is the 

same as the benchmark level for the 

2022–2024 housing goals period. FHFA 

has determined that given the market 

challenges and the uncertainty of future 

mortgage rates, a 26 percent benchmark 

level will serve as an appropriate target 

that will promote Enterprise efforts in 

this segment. 

TABLE 7—SINGLE-FAMILY LOW-INCOME REFINANCE GOAL

Year 

Historical performance Projected forecast 

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 

Actual Market Level .......................................................................................... 21.0% 26.1% 37.3% 40.3% ............ ............ ............ ............

Benchmark Level .............................................................................................. 21.0% 21.0% 26.0% 26.0% 26.0% 26.0% 26.0% 26.0% 

Current Market Forecast ................................................................................... ................ ................ ................ ................ 38.5% 

+/¥ 

3.1% 

38.1% 

+/¥ 

5.5% 

36.4% 

+/¥ 

7.0% 

34.3% 

+/¥ 

8.3% 

Fannie Mae Performance 

Low-Income Refinance Mortgages ................................................................... 663,667 809,452 279,020 60,682 ............ ............ ............ ............

Total Refinance Mortgages ............................................................................... 3,133,931 3,089,529 803,634 157,984 ............ ............ ............ ............


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
106270 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

60FHFA’s tabulation of HMDA data. 

61 Ibid. 

62As previously noted, the proposed rule referred 

to the measurement buffers as ‘‘Enforcement 

Factors’’. 

TABLE 7—SINGLE-FAMILY LOW-INCOME REFINANCE GOAL—Continued 

Year 

Historical performance Projected forecast 

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 

Low-Income % of Refinance Mortgages ........................................................... 21.2% 26.2% 34.7% 38.4% ............ ............ ............ ............

Freddie Mac Performance 

Low-Income Refinance Mortgages ................................................................... 490,176 658,845 254,332 54,906 ............ ............ ............ ............

Total Refinance Mortgages ............................................................................... 2,485,748 2,651,858 686,394 127,043 ............ ............ ............ ............

Low-Income % of Refinance Mortgages ........................................................... 19.7% 24.8% 37.1% 43.2% ............ ............ ............ ............

When measured in percentage terms, 

annual performance in the overall 

market and by the Enterprises on lowincome refinance mortgages tends to be 

inversely proportional to the volume of 

low-income refinance loans the market 

produces and the Enterprises purchase 

during a given year. For example, 

during the refinance boom of 2020, 

when mortgage rates were low, lowincome refinance volume in the overall 

market soared to over 1.3 million loans, 

but the volume of all refinances in the 

market reached over 6.3 million.60 This 

equated to a low-income refinance 

market performance of 21.0 percent. In 

contrast, in 2023, with higher mortgage 

rates, low-income refinance volume in 

the overall market contracted to roughly 

160,000 loans and refinance volume 

overall fell to about 397,000 loans.61

This equated to a low-income refinance 

market performance of 40.3 percent. The 

Enterprises’ performance on the lowincome refinance goal followed the 

same pattern. Low-income refinance 

performance for both Enterprises 

increased significantly during this later 

period, even as the volume of their 

purchases of low-income refinance 

mortgages fell. 

Recent performance and forecasts. As 

shown in Table 7, the market for lowincome refinance loans rose sharply 

from 2020 to 2023, as reflected in the 

HMDA data. For example, the market 

level for low-income refinance loans 

was 21.0 percent in 2020 with low 

mortgage rates and was 40.3 percent in 

2023 with elevated mortgage rates. At 

19.7 percent, Freddie Mac was below 

the 21 percent benchmark level in 2020, 

but has met the goal since then, with 

performance rising to 43.2 percent in 

2023. Fannie Mae has met the goal since 

2020, with performance rising from 21.2 

percent to 38.4 percent during that 

period. 

FHFA rationale. Some commenters 

supported the proposed benchmark 

level of 26 percent, noting that the 

refinance market is highly sensitive to 

fluctuations in interest rates. One 

commenter asked FHFA to raise the 

benchmark level given the recent strong 

performance of the market and the 

Enterprises. As noted above, the 

Enterprises’ annual performance on the 

low-income refinance goal tends to be 

inversely proportional to the volume of 

low-income refinance loans the market 

produces and the Enterprises purchase 

during a given year. Although mortgage 

rates are expected to decline during the 

2025–2027 housing goals period, 

FHFA’s model cannot forecast the lowincome refinance market with a high 

degree of confidence due to the 

unpredictability of future interest rates 

and the strong sensitivity of refinance 

originations to interest rates. FHFA 

believes that the 26 percent benchmark 

level in the final rule is reasonable given 

these forecasting challenges. Many 

current mortgage holders are unlikely to 

refinance without a substantial 

reduction in mortgage rates. FHFA is 

not aware of any long-term data series 

that captures this impact that can be 

used in the forecast model. FHFA also 

recognizes that if interest rates were to 

decline significantly, the benchmark 

level of 26 percent could be difficult for 

the Enterprises to achieve based on 

market conditions. It is for this reason 

that the final rule establishes the 

benchmark level of 26 percent for this 

goal, as proposed, and establishes 

measurement buffers for this goal, 

which are further discussed below. 

V. Measurement Buffers 

For the three single-family housing 

goals subject to the measurement 

buffers, FHFA proposed numerical 

factors to encourage each Enterprise to 

focus on achieving the housing goal by 

meeting the market level if the 

benchmark level is higher than the 

market level, despite the uncertainty 

regarding the final market level 

throughout the course of the year.62

Specifically, for 2025–2027, as 

proposed, the final rule provides that if 

the benchmark level for the singlefamily low-income home purchase, very 

low-income home purchase, or lowincome refinance housing goal is higher 

than the market level for the goal, an 

Enterprise that fails to meet the goal will 

not be required to submit a housing plan 

if the Enterprise’s performance meets or 

exceeds: (i) the market level minus 1.3 

percentage points for the low-income 

home purchase goal; (ii) the market 

level minus 0.5 percentage points for 

the very low-income home purchase 

goal; or (iii) the market level minus 1.3 

percentage points for the low-income 

refinance goal. To ensure that an 

Enterprise does not rely entirely on 

these measurement buffers, if an 

Enterprise fails to meet one of the 

applicable goals in both 2025 and 2026, 

the measurement buffer will not apply 

to that goal in 2027. 

Fannie Mae commented that FHFA 

should establish similar factors for the 

single-family housing subgoals. The 

final rule does not include a 

measurement buffer for the singlefamily minority census tracts home 

purchase subgoal or the single-family 

low-income census tracts home 

purchase subgoal. FHFA is not adopting 

a measurement buffer for the minority 

census tracts home purchase subgoal 

due to the Enterprises’ recent 

performance on this subgoal. A 

measurement buffer is unnecessary for 

the low-income census tracts home 

purchase subgoal because the 

benchmark level for the subgoal is being 

established below historic Enterprise 

performance to address potentially 

unintended consequences of Enterprise 

purchases in those areas. 

FHFA considers the measurement 

buffers to be a transparent and fair 

means to encourage each Enterprise to 

achieve these three single-family 

housing goals by meeting the market 

level despite uncertainty about the 

market level during the measurement 

period. FHFA also notes, as it did in the 

NPRM, that these measurement buffers 

will be in place for the 2025–2027 

housing goals period due to the 

heightened uncertainty in 

macroeconomic conditions and the 

difficult mortgage market that is 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 106271 

63 12 U.S.C. 4563(a)(4). 

64 12 CFR 1282.13. 65 ‘‘MBA Forecast: Commercial/Multifamily 

Borrowing and Lending to Increase 26 Percent to 

$539 Billion in 2024,’’ Mortgage Bankers 

Association, August 29, 2024, available at https:// 

www.mba.org/news-and-research/newsroom/news/ 

2024/08/29/mba-forecast-commercial-multifamilyborrowing-and-lending-to-increase-26-percent-to539-billion-in-2024. 66 Ibid. 

67Single-family properties are defined as 

structures with one to four units. Multifamily 

properties are defined as structures with five or 

more units. 

68 ‘‘Review of Household Characteristics, (n.d.),’’ 

National Multifamily Housing Council, available at 

https://www.nmhc.org/research-insight/quick-factsfigures/quick-facts-resident-demographics/ 

household-characteristics. 

69 ‘‘America’s Rental Housing 2024,’’ Joint Center 

for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2024, p. 

1, available at https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/ 

default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_Americas_

Rental_Housing_2024.pdf. 

70 Ibid. 

71 12 U.S.C. 4563(c). 

72 ‘‘America’s Rental Housing 2024,’’ Joint Center 

for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2024, p. 

2, available at https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/ 

default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_Americas_

Rental_Housing_2024.pdf. 

73 Ibid. 

currently forecast for 2025–2027. 

Additionally, if an Enterprise fails to 

meet one of the applicable single-family 

housing goals in both 2025 and 2026, 

the measurement buffer for that goal 

will not apply in 2027. 

VI. Multifamily Housing Goals and 

Subgoal 

A. Factors Considered in Setting the 

Multifamily Housing Goal Benchmark 

Levels 

The Safety and Soundness Act 

requires FHFA to consider the following 

six factors in setting the multifamily 

housing goals: 

1. National multifamily mortgage 

credit needs and the ability of the 

Enterprises to provide additional 

liquidity and stability for the 

multifamily mortgage market; 

2. The performance and effort of the 

Enterprises in making mortgage credit 

available for multifamily housing in 

previous years; 

3. The size of the multifamily 

mortgage market for housing affordable 

to low-income and very low-income 

families, including the size of the 

multifamily markets for housing of a 

smaller or limited size; 

4. The ability of the Enterprises to 

lead the market in making multifamily 

mortgage credit available, especially for 

multifamily housing affordable to lowincome and very low-income families; 

5. The availability of public subsidies; 

and 

6. The need to maintain the sound 

financial condition of the Enterprises.63

Unlike the single-family housing 

goals, performance on the multifamily 

housing goals is measured solely against 

benchmark levels set by FHFA in the 

regulation, without any retrospective 

market measure. The absence of a 

retrospective market measure for the 

multifamily housing goals results, in 

part, from the lack of comprehensive 

data about the multifamily mortgage 

market. Unlike the single-family 

mortgage market, where HMDA 

provides a reasonably comprehensive 

dataset about single-family mortgage 

originations each year, the multifamily 

mortgage market (and the affordable 

multifamily mortgage market segment) 

has no comparable single, unified 

source with coverage extending across 

many years. As a result, it is difficult to 

correlate different datasets that rely on 

different reporting metrics. 

The lack of comprehensive data for 

the multifamily mortgage market is even 

more acute with respect to the segments 

of the market that are targeted to lowincome families, defined as families 

with incomes at or below 80 percent of 

AMI, and very low-income families, 

defined as families with incomes at or 

below 50 percent of AMI. 

Unlike the single-family housing 

goals, which set separate benchmark 

levels for home purchase and refinance 

mortgages, the multifamily housing 

goals include all Enterprise multifamily 

mortgage purchases, regardless of the 

purpose of the loan. 

In consideration of public comments 

and to improve the responsiveness of 

the multifamily housing goals to market 

conditions, in 2023, FHFA revised the 

housing goals regulation to change the 

multifamily housing goals benchmark 

levels from a numeric benchmark level 

for units to a percentage of affordable 

units in multifamily properties financed 

by mortgages purchased by the 

Enterprise each year. This ensures that 

the multifamily housing goals remain 

meaningful in different market 

conditions and enables the Enterprises 

to respond to those conditions while 

continuing to serve affordable 

segments.64

FHFA has considered each of the six 

statutory factors in setting the 

benchmark levels for each of the 

multifamily housing goals in the final 

rule. Five of the factors relate to the 

multifamily mortgage market and the 

Enterprises’ role in that market. Those 

factors generally have similar impacts 

on each of the multifamily housing 

goals and are discussed below. The past 

performance of the Enterprises is 

discussed separately for each of the 

multifamily housing goals. 

Multifamily mortgage market. FHFA’s 

consideration of the multifamily 

mortgage market credit needs addresses 

the size and competitiveness of the 

overall multifamily mortgage market as 

well as the subset that is affordable to 

low-income and very low-income 

families. In August 2024, MBA 

forecasted that multifamily mortgage 

originations would increase from the 

$246 billion estimated in 2023 to $297 

billion in 2024, then to $390 billion in 

2025.65 MBA noted that the moderation 

in interest rates along with the large 

volume of loans maturing should result 

in an increase in borrowing relative to 

2023 and 2024, but the timing of this 

borrowing is uncertain.66

According to the National Multifamily 

Housing Council’s tabulation of 

American Community Survey 

microdata, in 2023, about 47 percent of 

renter households (22 million 

households) lived in multifamily 

properties.67 68

Affordability in the multifamily 

mortgage market. In its America’s 

Rental Housing 2024 report, Harvard 

University’s Joint Center for Housing 

Studies (JCHS) found that rent growth 

had moderated following historically 

high rent growth in 2021 and 2022.69

For instance, in the third quarter of 

2023, rent growth for professionally 

managed apartments was 0.4 percent, 

compared to 15.3 percent in early 

2022.70 Despite the recent slowdown in 

rent growth, the extended period of 

rising rents corresponds to the 

continued stress on renters, with the 

share of cost-burdened renters 

continuing to remain elevated. 

For purposes of the Enterprise 

housing goals, the Safety and Soundness 

Act requires FHFA to determine 

affordability based on whether rent 

levels are affordable. The Safety and 

Soundness Act defines a rent level as 

affordable if a family’s rent and utility 

expenses do not exceed 30 percent of 

the maximum income level for each 

income category, with appropriate 

adjustments for unit size as measured by 

the number of bedrooms.71 The JCHS 

report found that the share of costburdened renters, particularly among 

low-income and very low-income 

households, continues to grow.72 A 

household is considered cost-burdened 

if it spends more than 30 percent of its 

income on housing, and severely costburdened if it spends more than 50 

percent of its income on housing. The 

JCHS report shows that the share of 

cost-burdened renters across all income 

segments rose by 3.2 percentage points 

to 50 percent from 2019 to 2022.73 The 


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106272 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

74 Ibid. 

75 ‘‘The State of the Nation’s Housing 2024,’’ Joint 

Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 

2024, p. 13, available at https://

www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/reports/ 

files/Harvard_JCHS_The_State_of_the_Nations_

Housing_2024.pdf. 

76 Ibid. 

77 Ibid. 

78 ‘‘The GSE’s Shrinking Role in the Multifamily 

Market,’’ Urban Institute, April 2015, p. 4, available 

at https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/ 

publication/48986/2000174-The-GSEs-ShrinkingRole-in-the-Multifamily-Market.pdf. 

79 ‘‘Multifamily Business Information 

Presentation,’’ Fannie Mae, November 2024, p. 3, 

available at https://multifamily.fanniemae.com/ 

media/37196/display. 

80 Ibid. 

81 Ibid. 

82 ‘‘America’s Rental Housing 2024,’’ Joint Center 

for Housing Studies of Harvard University, 2024, p. 

2, available at https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/sites/ 

default/files/reports/files/Harvard_JCHS_Americas_

Rental_Housing_2024.pdf. 

83Sonya Acosta, ‘‘Final 2023 Funding Bill Should 

Support, Expand Housing Vouchers. Center on 

Budget and Policy Priorities’’, December 2022, 

available at https://www.cbpp.org/blog/final-2023- 

funding-bill-should-support-expand-housingvouchers. 

share of cost-burdened renters earning 

between $45,000 and $74,999 increased 

the most, rising by 5.4 percentage 

points.74

In The State of the Nation’s Housing 

2024 report, JCHS noted the significant 

rise in new rental supply as 449,900 

units were added in 2023, a 22 percent 

rise from 2022 and the highest number 

of completions in more than 30 years.75

However, the growth in new rental 

supply is expected to slow down as 

multifamily starts fell by 14 percent in 

2023, and this decline has accelerated.76

While the addition of rental units may 

limit rent growth, the JCHS report found 

that new rental units are primarily 

targeted towards the upper end of the 

market, with a median asking rent of 

$1,710 in the third quarter of 2023, 

compared to $1,440 in 2014.77

Role of the Enterprises. In adopting 

the multifamily housing goal benchmark 

levels for 2025–2027 in the final rule, 

FHFA has considered the ability of the 

Enterprises to lead the market in making 

multifamily mortgage credit available. 

The Enterprises’ share of the overall 

multifamily mortgage market increased 

in the years immediately following the 

2008 financial crisis but has declined 

more recently in response to growing 

private sector participation. The 

Enterprises’ share of the multifamily 

market was over 70 percent in 2008 and 

2009, compared to 36 percent in 

2015.78 79 The total share was 40 percent 

or higher from 2016 to 2020. However, 

in 2021 and 2022, when multifamily 

origination volume was relatively 

robust, the combined Enterprise share 

was estimated to be below 30 percent 

before increasing to 41 percent in 

2023.80 Through the second quarter of 

2024, the combined Enterprise share is 

estimated to be 35 percent.81

FHFA recognizes that the multifamily 

housing goals are just one measure of 

how the Enterprises contribute to and 

participate in the multifamily market. 

Other Enterprise multifamily activities 

include those under their Duty to Serve 

Underserved Markets Plans, LowIncome Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) 

equity financing, and the missiondriven elements of FHFA’s 

Conservatorship Scorecard. Together 

with the housing goals, these 

programmatic activities provide support 

to renter households, including lowincome families spending more than 30 

percent of their income on housing. 

FHFA will continue to monitor these 

initiatives and priorities to maintain 

appropriate focus by the Enterprises, 

including compliance with the 

Enterprises’ charter acts and safety and 

soundness considerations. 

FHFA expects the Enterprises to 

continue to demonstrate leadership in 

supporting affordable housing in the 

multifamily market by providing 

liquidity for housing for tenants at 

different income levels in various 

geographies and market segments. This 

support should continue throughout the 

economic cycle, even as the overall size 

of the multifamily mortgage market 

fluctuates. 

Availability of public subsidies. 

Multifamily housing assistance is 

primarily available in two forms— 

demand-side public subsidies that 

either directly assist low-income tenants 

(e.g., Section 8 vouchers) or provide 

project-based rental assistance (e.g., 

Section 8 contracts), and supply-side 

public subsidies that support the 

creation and preservation of affordable 

housing (e.g., public housing and 

LIHTCs). The availability of public 

subsidies impacts the overall affordable 

multifamily housing market, and 

significant changes to long-standing 

public subsidy programs could impact 

the ability of the Enterprises to meet the 

housing goals. The Enterprises also 

provide liquidity to facilitate the 

preservation of public subsidies through 

their purchases of mortgages that 

finance the preservation of existing 

affordable housing units (especially for 

restructurings of older properties that 

reach the end of their initial 15-year 

LIHTC compliance periods) and for 

refinancing properties with expiring 

Section 8 Housing Assistance Payment 

contracts. 

The need for public subsidies persists 

as the number of cost-burdened renters 

remains high, at over 22.4 million renter 

households in 2022.82 The Center on 

Budget and Policy Priorities estimates 

that only one in four eligible households 

currently receive Federal housing 

assistance.83

In 2025 and beyond, there should 

continue to be opportunities in the 

multifamily mortgage market to provide 

permanent financing for properties with 

LIHTCs and to preserve existing 

affordable units, as described above. 

Maintaining the sound financial 

condition of the Enterprises. In 

establishing multifamily housing goals 

benchmark levels for 2025–2027 in the 

final rule, FHFA must balance the role 

of the Enterprises in providing liquidity 

and supporting various multifamily 

mortgage market segments with the 

need to maintain the Enterprises’ sound 

and solvent financial condition. The 

Enterprises have served as a stabilizing 

force in the multifamily mortgage 

market across economic cycles, and 

their loans on affordable multifamily 

properties have experienced low levels 

of delinquency and default that are 

similar to those of market rate 

properties. 

FHFA continues to monitor the 

activities of the Enterprises in this 

market. As discussed above and 

consistent with the authorities 

described in the Enterprise housing 

goals regulation, FHFA may take any 

steps it determines necessary and 

appropriate after adoption of this final 

rule to address the multifamily housing 

goals benchmark levels to ensure the 

Enterprises’ continued safety and 

soundness. 

Past performance of the Enterprises. 

Before finalizing the benchmark levels 

for the multifamily housing goals in this 

final rule, FHFA reviewed any 

additional data (including Enterprise 

performance after the proposed rule was 

published) that became available about 

the performance of the Enterprises with 

regard to the multifamily housing goals. 

For each multifamily housing goals 

benchmark level, FHFA summarized the 

relevant performance of the Enterprises 

in the context of that goal or subgoal 

discussed in section B. Multifamily 

Housing Goals Benchmark Levels in the 

Final Rule—§ 1282.13. 

Based on FHFA’s consideration of the 

statutory factors described above, any 

developments in the multifamily 

mortgage market, and comments 

received on the proposed multifamily 

housing goals benchmark levels, the 

final rule establishes the benchmark 

levels for the multifamily housing goals, 

as further discussed below. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 106273 

84 12 CFR 1282.16 (Special Counting 

Requirements). 

85See 87 FR 50800 (Aug. 18, 2022). 

86See ‘‘The State of the Nation’s Housing 2024,’’ 

Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard 

University, June 2024, available at https://

www.jchs.harvard.edu/state-nations-housing-2024. 

1. Multifamily Low-Income Housing 

Goal 

The multifamily low-income housing 

goal is the percentage share of all goaleligible units in multifamily properties 

financed by mortgages purchased by the 

Enterprises that are affordable to lowincome families in any given year. Lowincome families are defined as those 

with incomes less than or equal to 80 

percent of AMI. The final rule sets the 

annual benchmark level for this goal for 

2025–2027 at 61 percent of goal-eligible 

units acquired. This is the same 

benchmark level as in the proposed rule 

and that was in place for the 2023–2024 

housing goals period. It is consistent 

with FHFA’s analysis of the current and 

expected multifamily market, which 

indicates fewer affordable units to 

support, rising price per unit, and 

uncertain market conditions. 

TABLE 8—MULTIFAMILY LOW-INCOME HOUSING GOAL

Year 

Historical performance 

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 

Low-Income Multifamily Benchmark Level ....................................................... 315,000 315,000 415,000 61% 61% 61% 61% 61% 

Fannie Mae Performance 

Low-Income Multifamily Units ........................................................................... 441,773 384,488 419,361 317,032 .............. .............. .............. ..............

Total Multifamily Units ....................................................................................... 637,696 557,152 542,347 415,513 .............. .............. .............. ..............

Low-Income % Total Units ................................................................................ 69.3% 69.0% 77.3% 76.3% .............. .............. .............. ..............

Freddie Mac Performance 

Low-Income Multifamily Units ........................................................................... 473,338 373,225 420,107 231,968 .............. .............. .............. ..............

Total Multifamily Units ....................................................................................... 664,638 540,541 567,249 345,702 .............. .............. .............. ..............

Low-Income % of Total Units ............................................................................ 71.2% 69.0% 74.1% 67.1% .............. .............. .............. ..............

Recent performance. Table 8 shows 

the annual share of goal-qualifying lowincome multifamily units in properties 

backing mortgages acquired by each 

Enterprise from 2020 through 2023.84 In 

addition, the historical performance 

share average for the pre-pandemic 

years of 2017–2019 would have been 

65.1 percent for Fannie Mae and 67.3 

percent for Freddie Mac.85

FHFA rationale. FHFA has considered 

the statutory factors for the multifamily 

housing goals, including current market 

conditions, the Enterprises’ 

performance, and the Enterprises’ role 

in the market, as well as the public 

comments received (summarized in 

section II). Several commenters 

supported the proposed benchmark 

level of 61 percent for this goal, while 

other commenters recommended that 

FHFA establish a higher benchmark 

level. FHFA remains concerned that 

elevated interest rates are continuing to 

contribute to the increasing costs of 

owning low-income multifamily units. 

FHFA also remains concerned that 

expected declines in affordable 

originations and increases in rents are 

likely to cause fewer units to qualify as 

affordable for low-income families. 

These challenges are expected to persist 

in 2025–2027, as rent increases and 

insufficient supply of affordable 

housing are likely to result in more lowincome families paying more than 30 

percent of their incomes for rent.86 In 

light of FHFA’s consideration of the 

statutory factors and the comments on 

the proposed goal, FHFA is adopting the 

proposed benchmark level of 61 percent 

for this goal for 2025–2027 in the final 

rule. 

2. Multifamily Very Low-Income 

Housing Goal 

The multifamily very low-income 

housing goal is the percentage share of 

all goal-eligible units in multifamily 

properties financed by mortgages 

purchased by the Enterprises that are 

affordable to very low-income families 

in any given year. Very low-income 

families are defined as those with 

incomes less than or equal to 50 percent 

of AMI. The final rule sets the annual 

benchmark level for this goal for 2025– 

2027 at 14 percent of goal-eligible units 

acquired, which is the same as the 

proposed benchmark level but higher 

than the current 12 percent benchmark 

level applicable for the 2023–2024 

housing goals period. 

TABLE 9—MULTIFAMILY VERY LOW-INCOME HOUSING GOAL

Year 

Historical performance 

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 

Very Low-Income Multifamily Benchmark Level ............................................... 60,000 60,000 88,000 12% 12% 14% 14% 14% 

Fannie Mae Performance 

Very Low-Income Multifamily Units ................................................................... 95,416 83,459 127,905 77,509 .............. .............. .............. ..............

Total Multifamily Units ....................................................................................... 637,696 557,152 542,347 415,513 .............. .............. .............. ..............

Very Low-Income % of Total Units ................................................................... 15.0% 15.0% 23.6% 18.7% .............. .............. .............. ..............

Freddie Mac Performance 

Very Low-Income Multifamily Units ................................................................... 107,105 87,854 127,733 71,217 .............. .............. .............. ..............

Total Multifamily Units ....................................................................................... 664,638 540,541 567,249 345,702 .............. .............. .............. ..............

Very Low-Income % of Total Units ................................................................... 16.1% 16.3% 22.5% 20.6% .............. .............. .............. ..............


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
106274 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

87See 87 FR 50801 (Aug. 18, 2022). 

Recent performance. Table 9 shows 

the number and share of goal-qualifying 

very low-income multifamily units as a 

percentage of the total goal-eligible units 

in properties backing mortgages 

acquired by each Enterprise. In 

addition, the historical performance 

share average for the pre-pandemic 

years of 2017–2019 would have been 

13.1 percent for Fannie Mae and 15.6 

percent for Freddie Mac.87

FHFA rationale. FHFA has considered 

the statutory factors for the multifamily 

housing goals, including current market 

conditions and the Enterprises’ role in 

the market. FHFA has also considered 

the comments received in response to 

the proposed benchmark level for this 

goal that are summarized in section II. 

As with the multifamily low-income 

housing goal, several commenters 

thought that FHFA could slightly 

increase the benchmark level for the 

multifamily very low-income housing 

goal. As discussed above, FHFA remains 

concerned that elevated interest rates 

and the severe disparity between 

demand and supply of units affordable 

to very low-income renters are 

continuing to contribute to the 

increasing costs of owning very lowincome multifamily units. These factors 

are expected to result in fewer units that 

qualify as affordable for very lowincome families. As a result, FHFA 

believes that a benchmark level of 14 

percent for this goal will encourage the 

Enterprises to continue to adequately 

serve very low-income families, while 

accounting for the challenges associated 

with elevated interest rates, lower 

volume of loan transactions, and the 

lack of affordable units in the 

multifamily market, as well as 

continued uncertain economic 

conditions. 

FHFA believes that raising the 

benchmark level for this goal from the 

current 12 percent to 14 percent is 

appropriate and achievable considering 

the past performance of the Enterprises 

on this goal. Accordingly, FHFA is 

adopting the proposed benchmark level 

of 14 percent for this goal for 2025–2027 

in the final rule. 

3. Small Multifamily Low-Income 

Housing Subgoal 

The current Enterprise housing goals 

regulation defines a small multifamily 

property as having 5 to 50 units. The 

small multifamily low-income housing 

subgoal is based on the share of units in 

small multifamily properties affordable 

to low-income families as a percentage 

of all goal-eligible units in all 

multifamily properties financed by 

mortgages purchased by the Enterprises 

in a given year. Low-income families are 

defined as those with incomes less than 

or equal to 80 percent of AMI. The final 

rule sets the annual benchmark level for 

this subgoal for 2025–2027 at 2 percent 

of goal-eligible units acquired, as 

proposed, which is slightly lower than 

the current 2.5 percent benchmark level 

for the 2023–2024 housing goals period. 

FHFA believes that with a 2 percent 

benchmark level, the Enterprises will 

remain positioned to support this 

market when needed without crowding 

out other sources of financing for small 

multifamily properties. 

TABLE 10—SMALL (5–50 UNITS) MULTIFAMILY LOW-INCOME SUBGOAL

Year 

Historical performance 

2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026 2027 

Fannie Mae Small Low-Income Multifamily Benchmark Level ......................... 10,000 10,000 17,000 2.5% 2.5% 2.0% 2.0% 2.0% 

Freddie Mac Small Low-Income Multifamily Benchmark Level ........................ 10,000 10,000 23,000 2.5% 2.5% 2.0% 2.0% 2.0% 

Fannie Mae Performance 

Small Low-Income Multifamily Units ................................................................. 21,797 14,409 21,436 13,241 .............. .............. .............. ..............

Total Multifamily Units ....................................................................................... 637,696 557,152 542,347 415,513 .............. .............. .............. ..............

Small Low-Income % of Total Units ................................................................. 3.4% 2.6% 4.0% 3.2% .............. .............. .............. ..............

Freddie Mac Performance 

Small Low-Income Multifamily Units ................................................................. 28,142 31,913 27,103 14,006 .............. .............. .............. ..............

Total Multifamily Units ....................................................................................... 664,638 540,541 567,249 345,702 .............. .............. .............. ..............

Small Low-Income % of Total Units ................................................................. 4.2% 5.9% 4.8% 4.1% .............. .............. .............. ..............

Recent performance. Table 10 shows 

Enterprise performance on this subgoal, 

including the previous numeric 

benchmark levels applicable through 

2022 and the percentage-based metric 

that began in 2023. FHFA recognizes 

that the Enterprises have different 

business approaches to the small 

multifamily market segment, and that 

each Enterprise sets its own credit risk 

tolerance for these products. As a result, 

each Enterprise has performed very 

differently on this subgoal. Since 2020, 

Freddie Mac has exceeded Fannie Mae 

in terms of percentage share of total 

units and volume of low-income units 

in small (5–50) multifamily properties. 

FHFA rationale. FHFA has considered 

the statutory factors for the multifamily 

housing goals, the purpose of this 

subgoal, and the comments received on 

the proposed benchmark level for this 

subgoal. As noted in section II, several 

commenters supported the proposed 

benchmark level of 2 percent, with one 

commenter noting that this market 

segment is well-supported by private 

capital sources. Other commenters 

disagreed with the proposed benchmark 

level, recommending that FHFA raise or 

maintain the existing benchmark level. 

Both Enterprises supported the 

proposed benchmark level, recognizing 

that their role is to provide liquidity 

without crowding out the private capital 

sources that have historically served 

this market segment. 

FHFA has observed increased private 

sector financing for small multifamily 

properties in recent years, and as a 

result, less activity among secondary 

mortgage market participants. Therefore, 

FHFA believes that a benchmark level of 

2 percent should be adequate for the 

Enterprises to support this market 

segment when needed without 

crowding out other sources of financing 

for small multifamily properties. 

Accordingly, FHFA is adopting the 

proposed benchmark level of 2 percent 

for this goal for 2025–2027 in the final 

rule. 

VII. Paperwork Reduction Act 

The final rule does not contain any 

information collection requirement that 

requires the approval of the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) under 

the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 

3501 et seq.). Therefore, FHFA has not 


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I I I I I I I I 
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 106275 

submitted the final rule to OMB for 

review. 

VIII. Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 

U.S.C. 601 et seq.) requires that a 

regulation that has a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities, small 

businesses, or small organizations must 

include an initial regulatory flexibility 

analysis describing the regulation’s 

impact on small entities. Such an 

analysis need not be undertaken if the 

agency has certified that the regulation 

will not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities. 5 U.S.C. 605(b). FHFA has 

considered the impact of the final rule 

under the Regulatory Flexibility Act. 

FHFA certifies that the final rule will 

not have a significant economic impact 

on a substantial number of small entities 

because the final rule applies to Fannie 

Mae and Freddie Mac, which are not 

small entities for purposes of the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act. 

IX. Congressional Review Act 

In accordance with the Congressional 

Review Act (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), FHFA 

has determined that this final rule is a 

major rule and has verified this 

determination with the Office of 

Information and Regulatory Affairs of 

OMB. 

List of Subjects in 12 CFR Part 1282 

Mortgages, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

Accordingly, for the reasons stated in 

the Preamble, FHFA amends part 1282 

of title 12 of the Code of Federal 

Regulations as follows: 

PART 1282—ENTERPRISE HOUSING 

GOALS AND MISSION 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 1282 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 12 U.S.C. 4501, 4502, 4511, 

4513, 4526, 4561–4566. 

■ 2. Amend § 1282.1 by revising the 

definition of ‘‘Designated disaster area’’ 

to read as follows: 

§ 1282.1 Definitions. 

* * * * * 

Designated disaster area means any 

census tract that is located in a county 

designated by the President as adversely 

affected by a declared major disaster 

administered by FEMA under the Robert 

T. Stafford Disaster Relief and 

Emergency Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 

5121 et seq.), where housing assistance 

payments were authorized by FEMA. A 

census tract shall be treated as a 

‘‘designated disaster area’’ for purposes 

of this part beginning on the January 1 

after the major disaster declaration of 

the county, or such earlier date as 

determined by FHFA, and continuing 

through December 31 of the third full 

calendar year following the major 

disaster declaration. This time period 

may be adjusted for a particular disaster 

area by notice from FHFA to the 

Enterprises. 

* * * * * 

■ 3. Amend § 1282.11 by revising 

paragraph (a)(1) to read as follows: 

§ 1282.11 General. 

(a) * * * 

(1) Three single-family owneroccupied purchase money mortgage 

housing goals, two single-family owneroccupied purchase money mortgage 

housing subgoals, a single-family 

refinancing mortgage housing goal, two 

multifamily housing goals, and a 

multifamily housing subgoal; 

* * * * * 

■ 4. Amend § 1282.12 by revising 

paragraphs (c)(2), (d)(2), (f)(2)(ii), (g)(2), 

and (h)(2) to read as follows: 

§ 1282.12 Single-family housing goals and 

subgoals. 

* * * * * 

(c) * * * 

(2) The benchmark level, which for 

2025, 2026, and 2027 shall be 25 

percent of the total number of purchase 

money mortgages purchased by that 

Enterprise in each year that finance 

owner-occupied single-family 

properties. 

(d) * * * 

(2) The benchmark level, which for 

2025, 2026, and 2027 shall be 6 percent 

of the total number of purchase money 

mortgages purchased by that Enterprise 

in each year that finance owneroccupied single-family properties. 

* * * * * 

(f) * * * 

(2) * * * 

(ii) The benchmark level, which for 

2025, 2026, and 2027 shall be 4 percent 

of the total number of purchase money 

mortgages purchased by that Enterprise 

in each year that finance owneroccupied single-family properties. 

(g) * * * 

(2) The benchmark level, which for 

2025, 2026, and 2027 shall be 12 

percent of the total number of purchase 

money mortgages purchased by that 

Enterprise in each year that finance 

owner-occupied single-family 

properties. 

(h) * * * 

(2) The benchmark level, which for 

2025, 2026, and 2027 shall be 26 

percent of the total number of 

refinancing mortgages purchased by that 

Enterprise in each year that finance 

owner-occupied single-family 

properties. 

■ 5. Revise § 1282.13 to read as follows: 

§ 1282.13 Multifamily housing goals and 

subgoal. 

(a) Multifamily housing goals and 

subgoal. An Enterprise shall be in 

compliance with a multifamily housing 

goal or subgoal if its performance under 

the housing goal or subgoal meets or 

exceeds the benchmark level for the goal 

or subgoal, respectively. 

(b) Multifamily low-income housing 

goal. The percentage share of dwelling 

units in multifamily residential housing 

financed by mortgages purchased by 

each Enterprise that consists of dwelling 

units affordable to low-income families 

shall meet or exceed 61 percent of the 

total number of dwelling units in 

multifamily residential housing 

financed by mortgages purchased by the 

Enterprise in each year for 2025, 2026, 

and 2027. 

(c) Multifamily very low-income 

housing goal. The percentage share of 

dwelling units in multifamily 

residential housing financed by 

mortgages purchased by each Enterprise 

that consists of dwelling units 

affordable to very low-income families 

shall meet or exceed 14 percent of the 

total number of dwelling units in 

multifamily residential housing 

financed by mortgages purchased by the 

Enterprise in each year for 2025, 2026, 

and 2027. 

(d) Small multifamily low-income 

housing subgoal. The percentage share 

of dwelling units in small multifamily 

properties financed by mortgages 

purchased by each Enterprise that 

consists of dwelling units affordable to 

low-income families shall meet or 

exceed 2 percent of the total number of 

dwelling units in all multifamily 

residential housing financed by 

mortgages purchased by the Enterprise 

in each year for 2025, 2026, and 2027. 

■ 6. Amend § 1282.15 by: 

■ a. In paragraph (b)(2), remove the first 

instance of ‘‘subgoal’’ and add, in its 

place, ‘‘subgoals’’; 

■ b. Revise the heading and the first 

sentence of paragraph (c); 

■ c. In paragraphs (d)(1), (3), and (4) and 

(e)(3), remove the phrase ‘‘housing goal 

and subgoals’’ wherever it appears and 

add in its place the phrase ‘‘housing 

goals and subgoal’’; 

■ d. Revise the heading to paragraph (e); 

and 

■ e. In paragraph (e)(2), remove the 

phrase ‘‘housing goal or subgoals’’ and 

add in its place the phrase ‘‘housing 

goals or subgoal’’. 


ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with RULES1
106276 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 249 / Monday, December 30, 2024 / Rules and Regulations 

The revisions read as follows: 

§ 1282.15 General counting requirements. 

* * * * * 

(c) Calculating the numerator and 

denominator for multifamily housing 

goals and subgoal. Performance under 

the multifamily housing goals and 

subgoal shall be measured using a 

fraction that is converted into a 

percentage. * * * 

* * * * * 

(e) Missing data or information for 

multifamily housing goals and subgoal. 

* * * 

* * * * * 

■ 7. Revise § 1282.20 to read as follows: 

§ 1282.20 Preliminary determination of 

compliance with housing goals; notice of 

preliminary determination. 

(a) Preliminary determination. On an 

annual basis, the Director will evaluate 

each Enterprise’s performance under 

each single-family housing goal and 

subgoal and each multifamily housing 

goal and subgoal. The Director will 

make a preliminary determination of 

whether an Enterprise has failed, or 

there is a substantial probability that an 

Enterprise will fail, to meet each 

housing goal or subgoal established by 

this subpart. 

(b) Notice of preliminary 

determination. The Director will 

provide written notice to each 

Enterprise of the preliminary 

determination of its performance under 

each housing goal and subgoal 

established by this subpart, the reasons 

for such determination, and the 

information on which the Director based 

the determination. 

(c) Response by Enterprise. Any 

notification to an Enterprise of a 

preliminary determination under this 

section will provide the Enterprise with 

an opportunity to respond in writing in 

accordance with the procedures at 12 

U.S.C. 4566(b). Relevant information in 

a timely written response from an 

Enterprise will be included in the 

information the Director considers when 

making a final determination of housing 

goals compliance under § 1282.21. 

§ 1282.21 [Redesignated as § 1282.22] 

■ 8. Redesignate § 1282.21 as § 1282.22. 

■ 9. Add new § 1282.21 to read as 

follows: 

§ 1282.21 Final determination of 

compliance with housing goals; notice of 

final determination. 

(a) Final determination. On an annual 

basis, the Director will make a final 

determination of each Enterprise’s 

performance under each single-family 

housing goal and subgoal and each 

multifamily housing goal and subgoal. 

The final determination will address 

whether an Enterprise has failed, or 

there is a substantial probability that an 

Enterprise will fail, to meet any housing 

goal or subgoal and whether the 

achievement of that housing goal or 

subgoal was or is feasible. 

(b) Notice of final determination. The 

Director will provide each Enterprise 

with written notification of the final 

determination. If the Enterprise fails to 

meet any housing goal or subgoal, the 

notification will specify whether the 

Enterprise is required to submit a 

housing plan for approval under 

§ 1282.22. 

■ 10. Revise newly redesignated 

§ 1282.22 to read as follows: 

§ 1282.22 Housing plans. 

(a) General. If the Director determines 

that an Enterprise has failed, or that 

there is a substantial probability that an 

Enterprise will fail, to meet any housing 

goal or subgoal, and that the 

achievement of the housing goal or 

subgoal was or is feasible, the Director 

may require the Enterprise to submit a 

housing plan for approval by the 

Director. 

(b) Measurement buffers for 2025– 

2027. (1) Except as provided in 

paragraph (b)(3) of this section, the 

Director will not require an Enterprise 

to submit a housing plan based on the 

Enterprise’s failure to meet the singlefamily low-income families housing 

goal, the single-family very low-income 

families housing goal, or the singlefamily refinancing housing goal for the 

years 2025, 2026, or 2027, if: 

(i) The share of the market as defined 

in § 1282.12(b) for the applicable goal is 

lower than the benchmark level for the 

goal; and 

(ii) The Enterprise’s performance 

meets or exceeds the share of the market 

minus the measurement buffer for the 

applicable goal as defined in paragraph 

(b)(2) of this section. 

(2) The following measurement 

buffers apply for the years 2025, 2026, 

and 2027: 

(i) For the single-family low-income 

families housing goal, 1.3 percentage 

points; 

(ii) For the single-family very lowincome families housing goal, 0.5 

percentage points; and 

(iii) For the single-family refinancing 

housing goal, 1.3 percentage points. 

(3) The measurement buffers in this 

paragraph (b) will not apply to a goal in 

2027 if the Enterprise failed to meet that 

goal for each of the previous two years. 

(c) Nature of plan. If the Director 

requires a housing plan, the housing 

plan must: 

(1) Be feasible; 

(2) Be sufficiently specific to enable 

the Director to monitor compliance 

periodically; 

(3) Describe the specific actions that 

the Enterprise will take in a time period 

determined by the Director to improve 

the Enterprise’s performance under the 

housing goal or subgoal; and 

(4) Address any additional matters 

relevant to the plan as required, in 

writing, by the Director. 

(d) Deadline for submission. The 

Enterprise shall submit the housing plan 

to the Director within 45 days after 

issuance of a notice requiring the 

Enterprise to submit a housing plan. 

The Director may extend the deadline 

for submission of a plan, in writing and 

for a time certain, to the extent the 

Director determines an extension is 

necessary. 

(e) Review of housing plans. The 

Director shall review and approve or 

disapprove housing plans in accordance 

with 12 U.S.C. 4566(c)(4) and (c)(5). 

(f) Resubmission. If the Director 

disapproves an initial housing plan 

submitted by an Enterprise, the 

Enterprise shall submit an amended 

plan for approval or disapproval not 

later than 15 days after the Director’s 

disapproval of the initial plan; the 

Director may extend the deadline if the 

Director determines an extension is in 

the public interest. If an amended plan 

is not acceptable to the Director, the 

Director may afford the Enterprise 15 

days to submit additional amendments 

to its plan for approval or disapproval. 

(g) Enforcement of housing plans. If 

the Director requires an Enterprise to 

submit a housing plan and the 

Enterprise refuses to submit such a plan, 

submits an unacceptable plan, or fails to 

comply with the plan, the Director may 

issue a cease and desist order in 

accordance with 12 U.S.C. 4581, impose 

civil money penalties in accordance 

with 12 U.S.C. 4585, or take any other 

action that the Director determines to be 

appropriate, consistent with the Safety 

and Soundness Act. 

Sandra L. Thompson, 

Director, Federal Housing Finance Agency. 

[FR Doc. 2024–30793 Filed 12–27–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8070–01–P 


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