The Sept. 4, 2024 episode of the Walker Webcast featured a timely discussion on interest rates, commercial real estate and housing with special guest Priscilla Almodovar, president and CEO of Fannie Mae. Host Willy Walker began by discussing Almodovar’s impressive resume which included various positions at White & Case LLP, the New York State Housing Finance Agency, JPMorgan Chase and Enterprise Community Partners.
Walker then posed the question: “Why is it so difficult to build affordable housing?” To which Almodovar acknowledged that we are currently in an unprecedented time of unaffordability due to high costs associated with land acquisition and financing while still keeping rent prices affordable for today’s households.
Another issue discussed was the disconnect between available capital for affordable housing at a federal level (thanks to programs like Fannie Mae) versus local-level requirements. According to Almodovar, utilizing these funds requires coordination between multiple levels of government.
Moving on from this topic, Walker asked about Fannie Mae’s current state as it has been in conservatorship since 2008 following the Great Financial Crisis. However,
Almodovar explained that today’s Fannie Mae is different from before as they have developed significant liquidity through buying loans instead of retaining them in their investment portfolio like before. She also mentioned other tools such as loss mitigation and required regulatory capital that help make them more prepared for crises such as COVID-19 where they were able to assist struggling homeowners during this time.
When asked about mortgage rates coming down anytime soon,
Almodova
