Bill Pulte Talks Fed Subpoena, Housing

Summary

Bloomberg Talks: Bill Pulte Talks Fed Subpoena, Housing (January 12, 2026)

Main Theme & Purpose

This episode of Bloomberg Talks features an interview with Bill Pulte, Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), discussing recent developments involving the Federal Reserve’s subpoena, the government's aggressive new housing policy direction, President Trump's housing initiatives, and the debate over institutional home buying. The episode sheds light on how the current administration aims to tackle housing affordability in the U.S., the impact of recent mortgage market actions, and the political and economic implications of these efforts.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Bill Pulte’s Role in the Federal Reserve Subpoena

• Background: The DOJ’s decision to subpoena the Federal Reserve was reportedly influenced by actions and reports involving Director Bill Pulte and the FHFA.
• Pulte’s Response: He firmly denies any direct involvement, stating:
  • “The DOJ is outside of my purview. This is out of my purview. I don't know anything about it.” (01:42)
  • He consistently refers questions about the DOJ's actions to the Department of Justice.

2. White House Focus on Housing Affordability

• President Trump’s Priorities: According to Pulte, President Trump is “laser focused on housing affordability and reversing what has happened these last four years,” specifically aiming to undo the rise in costs since 2021. (03:03)
• Key Data Point: Pulte highlights how the average mortgage payment has soared under President Biden, making affordability a central agenda item for the administration.

3. The Institutional Home Buying Ban

• Policy Overview: President Trump announced plans to ban institutions from purchasing single-family homes, arguing this will help ordinary Americans become homeowners by reducing competition from large buyers.
• Pulte’s Justification:
  • “People should be living in homes, not corporations. … We have a supply problem in this country.” (02:04)
• Critics' Concerns: Wall Street and some economists argue institutional buyers only make up a small part of the market and that a ban may not address underlying supply issues.
• Pulte’s Rebuttal: “We serve the American people, we don’t serve Wall Street. … President Trump is laser focused on doing the right thing, no matter who it affects, in terms of their pocketbooks.” (07:49)
• Legislative Push: Pulte says there’s “amount of momentum at the legislative level” for the ban, with multiple senators interested in supporting the legislation. (08:35)

4. Mortgage Bond (MBS) Buyback Program

• Scale of Action: FHFA, under Trump, initiated a $200 billion buyback of mortgage-backed securities (MBS), with more than $230 billion purchased last year alone. (04:24)
• Intended Impact: The goal is to lower mortgage rates (which recently dropped 25 basis points after the announcement) and spur affordability.

5. Restructuring Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac

• Operational Changes: Pulte describes reform efforts, including bringing staff back to offices, reducing wasteful spending on leases, and boosting company valuations.
• IPO Possibility: On whether Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac might go public:
  • “We are fully prepared to do whatever the President would like us to do on that matter. … We are prepared.” (05:41)
• Valuations: Suggests joint valuations of Fannie and Freddie could reach up to $1 trillion. (04:24)

6. Political Attitudes & Cross-Party Inspiration

• Populist Moves: Pulte argues Trump’s stance on institutional housing is bolder than earlier calls from Democrats like Elizabeth Warren:
  • “Elizabeth Warren is going to have to take cues from us or she's going to continue to look like a fraud … President Trump, he gets things done.” (08:35)
• Nonpartisan Urgency: He stresses bipartisan importance and urgency, noting broad interest in legislative action.

7. Potential Declaration of a Housing Emergency

• No Commitment Yet: Asked whether the President will declare a housing emergency, Pulte says:
  • “That's entirely up to the President. I can tell you this. He is treating it with great urgency.” (09:15)
• All-Hands Approach: Names several top officials working on the issue, underlining a concerted government effort. (09:15)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On DOJ Subpoena:
  Bill Pulte (01:42):
  “The DOJ is outside of my purview. This is out of my purview. I don't know anything about it.”

• On Institutional Home Ownership:
  Bill Pulte (02:04):
  “People should be living in homes, not corporations. … We have a supply problem in this country and obviously we're working on the demand side of things.”

• Addressing Wall Street Criticism:
  Bill Pulte (07:49):
  “We serve the American people, we don’t serve Wall Street ... President Trump is laser focused on doing the right thing, no matter who it affects, in terms of their pocketbooks. At the Wall Street level, he is focused, laser focused on action, not talk like so many of these Democrats, like Elizabeth Warren.”

• On Outpacing Democrats:
  Bill Pulte (08:35):
  “Elizabeth Warren is going to have to take cues from us or she's going to continue to look like a fraud because she says all these things and then she does nothing about it. … President Trump is doing something about it.”

• On Possible Housing Emergency:
  Bill Pulte (09:15):
  “That's entirely up to the President. I can tell you this. He is treating it with great urgency. He understands real estate very well.”

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Important Segment Timestamps

• [01:17] – Background on DOJ subpoena and Bill Pulte's role
• [02:04] – Rationale for the institutional home buying ban, focus on affordability
• [04:24] – Discussion on mortgage bond buybacks and FHFA’s priorities
• [05:41] – Possibility of Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac IPO
• [06:37] – Economic debate on the institutional buyer ban
• [08:35] – Populist positioning vs. Democratic initiatives
• [09:15] – Urgency and the question of declaring a “housing emergency”

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Tone and Speaker Style

Bill Pulte’s responses are confident, direct, and populist, emphasizing action over rhetoric and framing current FHFA efforts as delivering on President Trump’s campaign promises. The Bloomberg hosts and interviewers probe critically, citing economic counterpoints and political debates, maintaining an analytical and sometimes skeptical tone.

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Summary Takeaway

This episode provides a deep dive into the Trump administration’s aggressive new housing policies—especially the proposed ban on institutional home buying and the unprecedented MBS buybacks—as well as the political dynamics and disputes surrounding these moves. Bill Pulte positions these policies as direct, urgent solutions to the spikes in housing costs seen in the last four years, repeatedly assuring that these measures are intended to benefit ordinary Americans, not Wall Street, and signaling more dramatic steps may be on the way.

Transcript

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[Bloomberg Reporter]

The Federal Reserve sources telling us, our colleagues here at Bloomberg, that a driving force behind the DOJ's decision to subpoena the central bank is the Federal Housing Finance Agency Director Bill Pulte. Director Pulte he's been busy over the last week. Some purchases of MBS in focus as well. Director Policy welcome to the program, sir. You are cited in our story this morning. Just wanted to give the opportunity to respond to it. But what was your role in the developments over the weekend?

[Bill Pulte]

The DOJ is outside of my purview. This is out of my purview. I don't know anything about it. And I would defer you to the.

[Bloomberg Reporter]

Doj, though you haven't been shy of sharing your thoughts on the Federal Reserve before, particularly over the last 12 months. You thought that the chairman would ultimately resign. He's standing firm. Do you think this push against the Federal Reserve is actually leading to unintended consequences and leading leading this Fed to dig in?

[Bill Pulte]

My main focus, John, has been on reducing mortgage rates to the extent that we can do it, and increasing housing affordability. President Trump announced a huge thing last week when he decided that he was going to ban institutions from buying homes. Basically the concept is that people should be living in homes, not corporations. You know, we have a supply problem in this country and obviously we're working on the demand side of things because in some cases affordability has gotten so Tough that people don't even want to buy a home because of what Joe Biden did. And so we're revers announcing that that's what we're focused on. We had a huge one two punch last week. You saw mortgage rates move 25 basis points lower on the news that Fannie and Freddie have started to undergo a $200 billion mortgage bond buy. And I think you're going to see some very exciting things come out of Davos with regard to the President on housing in a cup in a week.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Dr. Fulton, you were with the President this weekend, I believe, traveling with him on Air Force One from Washington to Palm Beach. Did you talk about the Federal Reserve with him this weekend?

[Bill Pulte]

Obviously I would never talk about anything. And I talk about, I would say this, that the President is laser focused on housing affordability and reversing what has happened these last four years. You look at the average mortgage payment under Joe Biden, it skyrocketed compared to what it was under President Trump's first term. We are focused on bringing down not only the mortgage rates but also the day to day cost in upkeeping homes which has to do with, you know, whether it be your ongoing expenses, mortgage insurance, etc. There are so many pieces to the cost puzzle that at the FHFA US Federal Housing we are working to reduce the cost burden that Americans have.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

I know that you've seen the report from our colleagues. I've also got calls last night about this subpoena handed to the Fed and was told that you were part of it pulling together a report that then went to the doj. I just wanted to go to sense from you. Did the President know this was coming? The Treasury Secretary know this was coming? Have you had any of these conversations.

[Bill Pulte]

Again on that matter? I'd refer you to the Department of Justice.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Okay, well we'll wait to hear from the Department of Justice when it goes back to the mortgage backed securities that you have been talking about. You already been purchasing about north of $230 billion of them last year. There is a cap. Do you expect to reach that cap this year?

[Bill Pulte]

I think all options are on the table. President Trump is a President who keeps all options on the table. We announced this historic $200 billion buyback of mortgage bonds. This is a huge deal and you know we'll keep all options on the table. Look, we're doing started Fannie and Freddie. Most presidents didn't even know Fannie and Freddie existed. Obviously your community and Bloomberg and all of us in the private sector, we know the importance of Fannie and Freddie. But for the average day American, they don't understand because the presidents haven't made it a priority. The average Americans haven't understood that presidents had this authority until President Trump found this authority, which is basically to utilize these companies to be companies. Imagine that. Get people to show up, back to work. You know, we had 16,000 people. We have 16,000 people at the two companies. When, when I showed up on the scene and President Trump came into office, they were all working from home. We'd go to these big buildings, air conditioning spewing everywhere, spending $50 million a year on leases. Nobody was in these buildings. So we have turned around Fannie and Freddie. They tried to get President Trump to sell the companies for the two companies together for $100 billion. I think the valuation of the companies is anywhere between 500 billion and some say up to $1 trillion.

[Bloomberg Host]

A lot of people are hoping that there is some sort of initial public offering of those companies. Are you preparing them for that this year or next year?

[Bill Pulte]

We are fully prepared to do whatever the President would like us to do on that matter. We have been getting prepared. We are prepared just like we are with the institutional home buying ban, just like we are with homebuilders. We have a full set of things to do, and once the President decides what to do, we go about executing them.

[Bloomberg Host]

Director Pulte, a lot of people on Wall street were pretty excited actually about your purchases of MBS of mortgage backed securities and saying that they should be like, it should be something that would bring down spreads. They were less excited about the idea of preventing institutions from buying single family home, saying that it really wasn't based in economics, considering that in certain regions in the country there's actually a glut of houses, that this is not because of institutions that account for a relatively small portion of overall buyers. What do you say back about the economic fundamentals behind this type of proposal and why it would bring down affordability and increase the supply of houses, which is the ultimate issue that a lot of people say.

[Bill Pulte]

Well, it just makes economic sense. You talk about supply. I mean, you kind of gave me a narrative there. But if you look at the economic supply of things, the fact is you have, you know, big corporations buying, using long term paper, using their balance sheets to scoop up homes in a supply shortage, as we call it. And they're in some cases buying these homes for 20, 30, 40% less than Americans are doing it. You know, President Trump was elected with a very, very popular mandate. You Know, sometimes people don't remember because it was a year ago, but it was a landslide victory. And he was given a mandate to reverse these last four years of crazy inflation that happened under Joe Biden. And so I think it's very appropriate that we're doing everything that we can to reduce housing costs, and we're going to keep doing it, whether it's the institutional ban on buying, looking at all of the things that go into a home and owning a home. Americans need to own homes in this country, and we're committed to restoring that.

[Bloomberg Host]

Director Pulte, did you study this in terms of the supply, demand dynamic and whether it actually would reduce the cost of houses for individuals? Should there be a ban on single family housing, on institutions buying single family homeless? Because a lot of people in the markets who have supported President Trump's policies, I'm thinking of Neil Dutta in particular, came out and said this is faulty economics.

[Bill Pulte]

Well, of course, I've studied it. I've studied it my whole life. I mean, I grew up in the housing business. I grew up in the building business. I was on the board of Pulte Homes for four years. I understand what institutional buying does. It's very powerful. I understand why Wall street might not like it, but we serve the American people. We don't serve Wall Street. And President Trump is laser focused on doing the right thing, no matter who it affects, in terms of their pocketbooks. At the Wall street level, he is focused, laser focused on an action, not talk like so many of these Democrats, like Elizabeth Warren. You know, for years, she would talk about, oh, institutional buying. She didn't do anything. Joe Biden didn't do anything about it. President Trump is doing something about it.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Elizabeth Warren wanted to see an effort like this. Do you think the president is taking cues from some of the more populist wings of the Democratic Party?

[Bill Pulte]

No, I think Elizabeth Warren is going to have to take cues from us or she's going to continue to look like a fraud because she says all these things and then she does nothing about it. You know, President Trump, he gets things done. He said, look, we're going to ban institutional buying. And then we're going about both on an executive action front as well as codifying it in legislation. I mean, the amount of momentum that we've had at the legislative level from, you know, different congresspeople. I was at the Financial Services Committee the other night. People were ecstatic about this. I also talked with multiple US Senators, many who are vying to sponsor the legislation. So this is a very big deal, and I think it's going to happen.

[Bloomberg Interviewer]

Is the president going to declare a housing emergency in the United States?

[Bill Pulte]

That's entirely up to the President. I can tell you this. He is treating it with great urgency. He understands real estate very well. He understands the importance of keeping home prices up. He understands this issue very well. And we're working very well together. Secretary Turner, Secretary Besson, Secretary Lutnick, the Vice President, Suzy Wiles. This is an all hands effort. James Blair in the White House. I mean, this is an all hands effort to reduce the cost of homeownership and get people, not corporations, back in homes.

[Bloomberg Reporter]

We look forward to seeing what comes of that effort. Director Pulley, we appreciate your time this morning, sir. Thank you very much. The Federal Housing director, Bill Pulte. There are the Federal Reserve, kind of, but much more on what's going to happen with housing in this country.

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