The US government agency overseeing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is rehiring some of the employees it fired earlier this year as it prepares a $30bn listing of the state-backed mortgage giants. The Federal Housing Finance Agency has in recent weeks requested several employees it had laid off over the spring and summer to come back to work, according to three people familiar with the matter.
The move comes after Trump-appointed FHFA director Bill Pulte cut about 30 per cent of the agency’s workforce, and as he presses ahead with ambitious plans to raise $30bn through an offering of Fannie and Freddie’s shares.
The FHFA had about 750 employees at the start of the year but axed about 250 roles through a mix of voluntary redundancies and job cuts, the people said. This included a team of economists set up under the leadership of Mark Calabria, who headed the agency during Trump’s first term, two of them added.
Recommended Federal National Mortgage Association Donald Trump pushes ahead with plans to take Fannie and Freddie public The Freddie Mac headquarters in Mclean, Virginia Pulte embarked on a major shake-up of the mortgage market after he was sworn in to the job in March and appointed himself chair of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The firebrand wants to privatise Fannie and Freddie in what he has called the “largest IPO in history” and fired several of their board members, including Freddie Mac chief executive Diana Reid. “There was a Nobel Prize winner on Fannie Mae’s board that got fired,’ said one former executive, who left earlier this year.
Pulte said earlier this week that the US government was looking at selling about 5 per cent worth of stock in a $30bn IPO while retaining a stake in the public company. Treasury secretary Scott Bessent has suggested that the government’s stake could help fund a US sovereign wealth fund. “Where President Trump looks, he finds money, and he’s found money at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and we’re gonna keep on making money for the benefit of Americans,” Pulte told Fox Business on Tuesday. People close to the FHFA believe that the administration is looking to get an IPO done before the 2026 midterm elections. Last month, Trump met with the chief executives of the country’s largest banks to discuss plans for the listing. While Pulte and Trump have previously hinted that a public listing could take place as early as this year, they have since tempered expectations, with Pulte telling Fox Business this week that the president was in “no rush” and would do it “on his own timeframe”.
One former employee who overlapped with Pulte for several months described the morale at Fannie Mae as “very low”, and said that the agenda at the FHFA seemed to be driven by the IPO process. Pulte’s impact has been felt beyond the federal agency, too. On X, he has repeatedly called for the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates, and last month alleged that Fed board member Lisa Cook had committed mortgage fraud in a criminal referral. His accusations have since escalated into an unprecedented attack on the central bank’s independence as Trump sought to oust Cook from the role last month. Privatising the two entities will be a delicate act. Fannie and Freddie are vital to the proper functioning of the US mortgage market, and help to keep mortgage rates low for regular Americans.
Sceptics have warned that taking them out of government conservatorship without proper care could risk snarling the market. Some investors are poised to potentially make a fortune if Fannie and Freddie are privatised: hedge fund billionaires Bill Ackman and John Paulson are among those betting on it. The FHFA declined to comment Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025.
