The Trump administration is weighing the sale of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shares in an offering that could begin as early as this year. Plans under discussion call for selling between 5% and 15% of their stock, with the two government-controlled mortgage giants valued at more than $500 billion. The transaction could raise around $30 billion, potentially making it the largest IPO in history.

In recent weeks, the CEOs of Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America met with President Trump in Washington to discuss the proposal. Trump confirmed that he is "working on" taking Fannie and Freddie public and stated that the government would maintain oversight even if their conservatorship ends. He also pledged that the "U.S. Government will keep its implicit GUARANTEES" to both institutions.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play a central role in the U.S. housing finance system. They purchase home loans from lenders, either holding them in their own portfolios or packaging them into mortgage-backed securities (MBS) that are sold to investors. By guaranteeing the timely payment of principal and interest on these securities, they make MBS more attractive to buyers.

This process channels new funds back to lenders, enabling them to issue more mortgages and helping keep mortgage credit available for homebuyers, apartment investors, and other property purchasers. Together, the two companies support roughly 70% of the U.S. mortgage market.

Fannie Mae was founded in 1938 during the Great Depression as a government agency to make home loans more accessible, later becoming a private entity in 1968. Freddie Mac was created in 1970 as a private company through an act of Congress. Both suffered massive losses during the 2008 financial crisis and were placed under the control of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) when they became illiquid.

The U.S. government took an 80% ownership stake through senior preferred stock warrants and received preferred shares in exchange for bailout funds, which have generated hundreds of billions in dividends over the years. By late 2012, both had returned to profitability, and since 2013 they have paid the Treasury about $301 billion.

Trump sought to privatize Fannie and Freddie in 2019 during his first term, but the plan stalled due to its complexity.