FHFA director faces investigation; key housing survey scrapped 

It's been a busy couple of weeks for officials at the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA).

A congressional watchdog agreed to investigate whether FHFA officials misused agency resources to target political adversaries; the agency has announced its conforming loan limit values for the new year; and it has reached an agreement with FICO regarding a new credit scoring model. 

Meanwhile, over at Fannie Mae — where FHFA Director Bill Pulte serves as board chair — a monthly housing survey has been discontinued.

FHFA director under fire

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) said in a Dec. 1 letter that it will review recent actions taken at the FHFA "to determine whether the agency and its employees misused federal authority and resources" related to mortgage fraud accusations FHFA Director Bill Pulte brought against several prominent Democrats.

The GAO's letter was a response to a request eight Democratic senators made last month for an investigation into Pulte's process in making criminal referrals. Pulte, a vocal ally of President Donald Trump, has accused several of Trump's perceived political enemies — including Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook, New York Attorney General Letitia James and Sen. Adam Schiff of California — of mortgage fraud, accusations they have denied.

So far, Pulte's accusations have not held up in court. This week, a grand jury refused to reindict James after a judge threw out the case against her — and while Trump cited Pulte's accusations in his attempt to fire Cook over the summer, she has so far been permitted to stay at the Fed. Cook has strongly denied the allegations and is suing Trump to keep her position.

Fannie Mae scraps housing survey

Fannie Mae did not release a National Housing Survey report for October last month, marking the first time in 15 years that the data has not been published, Inman reported earlier this week. 

The survey — which includes the monthly Home Purchase Sentiment Index and consumer expectations around housing, mortgage rates, employment and the overall economy — was last published on Oct. 7. For the past few years, the report has shown that most Americans think it's a bad time to buy a home.

It now appears that the October report will be the agency's last. A Fannie Mae spokesperson told Real Estate News on Dec. 5 that the GSE has stopped publishing its National Housing Survey "and will focus our resources on other research." Archived survey data remains available through the Fannie Mae website. 

The NHS findings, used by economists, researchers and media, have been a key source of insight into consumer attitudes. 

New credit scoring model advances

FICO announced this week that it has "achieved a key milestone" in getting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to use its FICO Score 10T.

In a Dec. 1 blog post, FICO VP Julie May wrote that the data analytics company reached an agreement with the FHFA to release some historical Score 10T data.

"This agreement represents a key step in making FICO Score 10T historical datasets broadly accessible to market participants," May wrote.

The announcement came a few weeks after Pulte suggested the FHFA was "very close to a deal" to begin implementing the new credit scoring model, which the agency validated in 2022.

FHFA raises conforming loan limit

On Nov. 25, the FHFA announced that it will be increasing conforming loan limit (CLL) values in 2026 for mortgages that are acquired by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. 

The new limit will be $832,75 — an increase of $26,250 — to align with the 3.26% increase in home prices between the third quarters of 2024 and 2025, as measured by the FHFA's House Price Index report.

The agency makes a CLL adjustment every year around this time in response to home price growth.