The podcast delves into the housing shortage in the US and how Federal Reserve rate hikes impact construction. Jim Millstein presents a plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to enter construction finance, potentially creating hundreds of thousands of new affordable homes annually.
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Quick takeaways
High interest rates hinder affordable housing construction, worsening supply issues.
Government intervention in restructuring entities like AIG sheds light on regulatory challenges.
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could boost housing supply by backing construction loans.
Deep dives
Challenges in Housing Affordability and Supply
Higher interest rates to combat inflation have constrained housing supply, contributing to affordability crises. Raising rates increases construction costs and deters building, exacerbating long-term inflation pressures.
Restructuring Financial Institutions During the Crisis
During the financial crisis, the government intervened to stabilize troubled entities like AIG by recapitalizing and downsizing them. AIG's restructuring involved selling off divisions to repay government loans, highlighting regulatory challenges and government interventions.
Resolving Housing Finance and Supply Issues
Government-sponsored entities like Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac play a pivotal role in the mortgage market, guaranteeing a significant portion of mortgage credit risks. To alleviate housing supply constraints, these entities could provide secondary support for construction loans to boost liquidity in the market and address the housing shortage.
Government Incentives to Increase Affordable Housing Construction
Government providing mezzanine financing can leverage developer equity, enabling more affordable housing construction. By reducing developer's equity requirement, the government encourages building affordable units. This approach can lead to comparable returns on equity for developers, creating incentives for new construction in needed areas.
Challenges and Opportunities in Federal Housing Finance
The podcast discusses the potential impact of a mezzanine financing program on housing shortage. There is bipartisan recognition of the housing supply problem. Jim Milstein explains the feasibility and steps to implement a mezzanine lending program, highlighting the role of Fannie and Freddie. The discussion touches on the bureaucratic and political complexities around ending conservatorships and expanding federal financing for housing.
According to numerous estimates, the US is massively short of housing. Zillow, for instance, says America needs to build 4.5 million new homes to climb out of this deficit. But right now we're not coming anywhere near to closing that gap. And in fact, the efforts by the Federal Reserve to tame inflation have likely made things worse, with higher interest rates slowing the construction of multi-family dwellings. So is there a way to create more homes, even in a time of high rates? In this episode, we speak with Jim Millstein, co-chair of Guggenheim Securities and a former Treasury Department official who managed the restructuring of AIG after the 2008 financial crisis. Millstein has drawn up a plan whereby Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac can enter the market for construction finance and re-start it. He walks us through how — with their existing legal authority — these two entities could make hundreds of thousands of new affordable homes come to the market each year.