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MortgagePoint » Your Trusted Source for Mortgage Banking and Servicing News 66 November 2025 J O U R N A L Government BESSENT SAYS HOUSING MARKET IN 'RECESSION,' URGES FED TO ACT FASTER ON RATES T reasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a recent interview that some sectors of the economy are in a recession or at risk of one. The housing sector is among the areas of the economy experiencing soft- ness now, Bessent noted in an interview on CNN's State of the Union. "If the Fed brings down mortgage rates," Bessent suggested, "they can end this housing recession." Though not directly impacted by Fed rate cuts, mortgage rates have dropped over the past few months, but the overall housing market remains weak. Bessent said that the Trump administration worked to lower the deficit-to-gross-domestic-product ratio from 6.4% to 5.9% through government spending cuts, which should help to push down inflation. But he complained the central bank is not moving fast enough to bring down interest rates, he said. "If we are contracting spending, then I would think inflation would be drop- ping," he said. "If inflation is dropping, then the Fed should be cutting rates." Fears of a Larger Recession? He further cautioned that a failure to further cut rates could lead to a general recession. The Fed cut interest rates by 25 basis points, the second such monthly cut. Though an additional cut was expected by many at the Fed's December meet- ing (there is no scheduled meeting in November), Powell cautioned that such a cut is not a foregone conclusion during his remarks. The tech sector has largely propped up other sectors of the economy this year. "The tech sector has been the key driver of recent U.S. growth, with surging stock prices and heavy investment in equipment and software," wrote Oxford Economics' lead economist, Adam Slater, in a note shared with Fortune. "But this leaves the United States vulnerable if tech suffers a downturn—without tech investment, U.S. GDP would have barely grown in H1 2025, and business invest- ment would have actually declined." Oxford Economics modeled two scenarios off the back of a tech downturn, an environment where investment slows and stock prices fall in tandem. The first, a U.S.-centered downturn with modest in- ternational spillover, would see domestic GDP growth fall to 0.8% in 2026, which Slater writes is "flirting with recession." The ripple effects would also snag the global economy, slowing it from the pre- dicted growth of 2.5% in 2026 to 2%. FHFA DETAILS HOUSING GOAL PERFORMANCE, MORTGAGE ACQUISITIONS T he Federal Housing Finance Agency's (FHFA) Annual Hous- ing Report outlines the Enter- prises' 2024 affordable housing initiatives and complies with the Federal Housing Enterprises Financial Safety and Sound- ness Act of 1992, as amended (Safety and Soundness Act) reporting requirements. The report includes the findings of FH- FA's assessments and ratings of the Enter- prises' 2024 Duty to Serve performance, as well as the agency's final analysis of the Enterprises' performance toward the housing targets for 2024. What Are Housing Goals? Under the Safety and Soundness Act, U.S. Federal Housing must set yearly housing targets for single-family and mul- tifamily mortgages that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae buy. The Enterprises have "an affirmative obligation to facilitate the financing of affordable housing for low- and moderate-income families in a manner consistent with their overall pub- lic purposes, while maintaining a strong financial condition and a reasonable economic return." The housing goals are one indicator of how well the Enterprises are fulfilling their public purposes. For residential mortgage lending, the Enterprises have persisted in promoting a steady and liquid national market. By rule, U.S. Federal Housing sets annual housing targets for the Enterprises and assesses their performance annually in relation to the housing targets. Single-Family Goals and Subgoals 1. Low-income home purchase goal for home purchase mortgages to families with incomes no greater than 80% of the area median income (AMI); 2. Very low-income home purchase goal for home purchase mortgages