Fannie Mae's chief operating officer replaces CEO
Peter Akwaboah has taken over as Fannie Mae's new chief executive officer, a change in leadership that comes as its oversight agency and the Trump administration work to free the organization from conservatorship.
Akwaboah replaces Priscilla Almodovar, who has led the agency since 2022. Akwaboah landed this promotion after serving as Fannie Mae's chief operating officer. With years of experience at several financial giants, Akwaboah was most recently Morgan Stanley's chief operating officer of global technology.
The announcement did not state why Almodovar stepped down.
Fannie and Freddie Mac have been under the conservatorship of the Federal Housing Finance Agency since the Great Recession. Fannie and Freddie buy mortgages from banks and other lenders, then bundle those loans into mortgage-backed securities that can be sold to investors. Both have been under federal conservatorship since the 2008 financial crisis, after the agencies took on toxic loans during the housing boom of the early 2000s.
FHFA Director Bill Pulte and President Donald Trump have made it clear that they want to free both agencies from conservatorship. Pulte said on his X social media account this week that the move could happen as soon as December. Housing experts say the process could take years, but Pulte called for feedback on potential future changes for both agencies in October.
Homes have less equity, more go underwater
Despite rising home prices and falling interest rates, home values are losing ground in terms of equity.
According to a third-quarter report by analytics firm ATTOM, 46.1% of homes are equity-rich, meaning they are valued at twice or more than the amount of the mortgage. That’s down 3% from the previous quarter and 4% year-over-year.
The fall in the share of equity-rich households was felt most acutely in Florida (46% vs. 52.5% last year), Arizona (44.5% vs. 50%), Colorado (43% vs. 48%), Washington, D.C. (29.2% vs. 34.1%), and Georgia (41.8% vs. 46.3%).
Three-quarters of the metropolitan areas with populations of more than 500,000 saw a fall in the number of equity-rich homes in the quarter.
Meanwhile, homes that are considered “seriously underwater” — when the combined balance of loans is over the value of the home by 25% or more — rose 2.8%, up from 2.5% in the same period last year.
This comes as the median home price rose 2% nationally in September to $385,000, according to data from Homes.com.