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Want more housing market stories from Lance Lamberts ResiClub in your inbox? Subscribe to the ResiClub newsletter. Earlier this month, President Donald Trump signed his partys reconciliation/tax overhaul bill. With reconciliation/taxes now in the rearview mirror, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae conservatorship could move up the docket. After all, back in May, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that privatizing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would be on the agenda after taxes and trade deals. It [privatization of Fannie and Freddie] is a goal for this administration,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in May. “Again, we’re doing peace deals, tax deals, and trade deals. As we land some of those deals then we will focus on that [privatization of Fannie and Freddie]. But what I can tell you is that we are doing a great deal of studying at Treasury because the one requirement for this privatization is that they are privatized in such a way that mortgage spreads do not widen. One reason housing stakeholders should pay attention to the fate of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae is the long standing concern that ending conservatorship could put upward pressure on mortgage rates. See, once released, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could need to hold more capital to absorb losses. To build and maintain that capital, they may need to increase guarantee fees charged to lenders. In addition, upon release, unless there’s an explicit guarantee or backstop from Congress, investors may demand higher returns to account for increased risk. Those concerns are real enough that this spring, both Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) director Bill Pulte said that Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae conservatorship changes wouldnt be made if doing so put upward pressure on mortgage rates/mortgage spreads. The priority for a Fannie and Freddie release, the most important metric that Im looking at is any study or hint that mortgage rates would go up. Anything that is done around a safe and sound release [of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] is going to hinge on the effect of long-term mortgage rates, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in February. While Bessent has suggested theyre looking into “privatization,” Pulte has indicated its not really Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac “privatization,” but rather taking them “public.” To be honest, Im not entirely sure what hes getting at. Maybe keeping them in conservatorship but selling off more shares? Im not sure. At Fannie Mae we have $4.3 trillion on our balance sheet. At Freddie Mac, we have over $3 trillion,” Pulte said in May. I would point you to his [Trumps May] tweet. He explicitly says he wants to take them [Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac] publiche did not say he wants to privatize them or many of the other things that are out there. I think these businesses have a ton of value. These businesses one day could be worth trillions of dollars. Well see what the president ultimately decides. While the U.S. Treasury owns the majority of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac profits through senior preferred stock agreements, the common and preferred shares that existed before conservatorship were never fully wiped out. Once Wall Street realized Trump had won the 2024 election, the stocks of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spiked as the market priced in higher odds that the second Trump administration would attempt to end the current status quo. Looking at their share prices today, its clear that either Wall Street or retail investors (or both) think something new is still on the horizon for Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. As noted above, Pulte made comments in May that seemed to suggest that what theyre considering could just be selling off/releasing some of the Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae stocks currently held by the government, and maybe not a full release. To better understand what the Trump administration is planning to do with Freddie Mac and Fannie Maeand how theyre considering concerns that a release could put upward pressure on mortgage rateswe reached out to Pulte to see if hed speak at ResiDay 2025 on Friday, November 7. He said yes. By the time ResiDay 2025 rolls around, we may already have a much clearer picture of what the administration is planning to door not dowith Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Even then, there will be several other timely topics wed like to ask Pulte about. That could include how they plan to implement any Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae changes; Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac accepting VantageScore 4.0 for mortgage underwriting; and his public attacks on Jerome Powell. Heres a quick Q&A if youre looking for a refresher on Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Why are Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in conservatorship? Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into conservatorship by the FHFA in September 2008 after suffering massive losses during the housing crash, threatening the stability of the U.S. financial system. The U.S. Treasury provided a bailout to keep them afloat, and they have remained under government control ever sincedespite returning to profitability. What do Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do, and how do they impact the housing market? Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are government-backed enterprises that help keep the U.S. mortgage market running smoothly. They dont issue home loans themselvesinstead, they buy mortgages from lenders, bundle them into mortgage-backed securities, guarantee those securities against default. This process creates a steady flow of capital, elping lenders offer more mortgages and keeping mortgage rates lower. Because Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae set strict standards for the loans they buy, Freddie and Fannie shape how lenders underwrite mortgages. Their policies also influence who gets access to credit, especially first-time and lower-income buyers. During downturns, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, in theory, help stabilize the housing market by continuing to support lending. While Fannie and Freddie are not officially backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. government, they are in federal conservatorship and widely perceived as having “implicit” government support. Whats the worst case scenario for mortgage rates if conservatorship ends without government backing? IF Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae were fully released without an “implicit” or “explicit” government guarantee, Moodys chief economist Mark Zandi tells ResiClub he thinks it could push up mortgage rate by 60 bps to 90 bps. So for instance, a 60 bps increase, would push the average 30-year fixed mortgage rate today from 6.82% to 7.42%. Release of the GSEs as SIFIs with no government guarantee, explicit or implicitThis would add an estimated 60-90 basis points to 30-year fixed mortgage rates compared to the current status quo for the typical borrower through the business cycle. Without a government guarantee, the Federal Reserve would not be able to buy the GSEs MBS, and there is the risk that the rating agencies would downgrade the GSEs debt and securities. The GSEs share of the mortgage market would significantly decline, and it would increase for private lenders and the FHA, resulting in greater taxpayer exposure, as taxpayers bear all the risk in FHA loans, Mark Zandi told ResiClub earlier this year. IF Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae are released with an “implicit” or “explicit” government guarantee, Zandi thinks the mortgage rate impact would be much smaller.
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Southern small-town drama has made its way to TikTok. If you’re not familiar with antipasto-gate, read on. The saga began on July 4, 2025, when a woman named Nicole attended a party she had been invited to by her sons friends mom. The event was hosted by a local couple who, according to Nicole, had been informed she would be attending. As a newcomer to the town and appreciative of the invitation, she brought along a homemade antipasto salad. But when Nicole and her son arrived, she says they were immediately met with hostility. Called a stranger by the hosts mother, she was made to feel so unwelcome that she eventually left in tears. I dont normally post things like this, but I am absolutely humiliated, she says through tears in a video posted to TikTok. This is why you dont make friends in your thirties. @folkmedicineremedies I am absolutely #humiliated this was such a bad #experience and I felt absolutely like they were just #bullies #hurtmyfeelings #fyp #viral #wtf #mean #rude #july4th #partypooper #aita original sound – folkmedicineremedies The perfect storm of TikToks appetite for drama, the you cant sit with us relatability, and the wasted salad (It was like, probably a $40 salad, according to Nicole) helped the incident go viral. The original video now has over 35.3 million views. Id recognize this salad anywhere lol. Ive been so invested in this drama, one user wrote in a dedicated Reddit thread. Memes, comedy sketches, explainer videos, and AI depictions of the scene have since circulated. Theres a Netflix meeting somewhere right now discussing a mini series! one comment read. Unsurprisingly, the hosts of the party soon found themselves in the crosshairs of TikTok backlash. In a since-deleted video responding to the criticism, they insisted they werent mean people. We just didnt want her in our house, OK? they say. Both online and off, things have gotten messy. Nicole received threatening messages from neighbors, with some suggesting the sheriff should get involved. Her underage son was reportedly doxxed. One viral video even claims the party host lost her job as a result of the drama. @justunionjosh #antipasto #stasiahicks #stasia #hicks #4thofjuly #july4th #fyp #trending #greenscreen #drama original sound – JustJosh What once wouldve remained small-town gossip, antipasto-gate is now a textbook example of how TikToks viral discourse cycle works: someone posts a personal grievance, internet vigilantes doxx those involved, and suddenly a local spat becomes the internets topic of the day. For those caught in the eye of the storm, the best strategy is often to stay quiet and wait for the internets attention to shift to its next villain. Nicole, meanwhile, has continued sharing updates on her accountincluding a highly requested tutorial for the antipasto salad. @folkmedicineremedies #thankyou ! Again. Youve all just changed my perspective on many things. So here is the #july4th #antipasto ish salad from me the #saladlady #tiktoklearningcampaign #entrepreneur #fyp #reels – John (Songs Station) –
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E-Commerce
Meta may not currently lead the race for AI superintelligence, but it’s drawing heavily on its cash reserves to pursue the technology. Founder Mark Zuckerberg announced Monday that the company will spend hundreds of billions of dollars to build several enormous AI data centers. The first of these centersexpected to be online next yearis called “Prometheus.” Zuckerberg says it will be capable of generating one gigawatt of energy. But Meta isn’t stopping there. “We’re also building Hyperion, which will be able to scale up to 5GW over several years. We’re building multiple more titan clusters as well. Just one of these covers a significant part of the footprint of Manhattan,” he wrote on Facebook. (A Meta spokesperson tells Fast Company Hyperion is currently under construction in Louisiana, while the Prometheus project is an expansion to a data center campus in Ohio.) Five gigawatts is roughly equal to the total energy consumption of Miami and equivalent to the output of five nuclear reactorsenough to power about 3.5 million homes for a year. There’s a certain irony in naming the center Prometheus. In Greek mythology, Prometheus defied the gods by stealing fire from Olympus. Meta, meanwhile, has been aggressively poaching top AI talent from rivals, offering multi-million-dollar salaries that far exceed what competitors pay. Zuckerberg is reportedly overseeing those recruitment efforts himself. With data centers of this scale, he could further strengthen the companys hiring appeal. Meta has also acquired a 49% stake in Scale AI, bringing its CEO, Alexandr Wang, on board. Nat Friedman, former CEO of GitHub, has also joined Meta. Daniel Grossthe CEO and co-founder of Safe Superintelligence, which he launched with OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever last Juneis now part of the company as well. With this wave of infrastructure announcements, Zuckerberg is signaling Metas intent to outpace OpenAI and other artificial intelligence initiatives. This comes after the company’s Llama 4 model underperformed following several high-profile staff departures. In response, Meta reorganized its AI division and renamed it Superintelligence Labs. And Meta certainly has the funds to support this push. In April, it raised its expected capital expenditure to as high as $72 billion. On Monday, Metas stock rose just under 1% to $724 per share. The company currently has a market capitalization of $1.82 trillionvastly higher than OpenAIs $300 billion valuation. But the competition isn’t sitting by either. OpenAI is building a five-gigawatt data center of its own, called Stargate. Announced in January, the company said it would invest $500 billion over four years to build the facility, with support from Oracle, SoftBank, and MGX. OpenAI committed to deploying $100 billion immediately. Texas has been designated as the flagship location for the data centers, with the first site expected to begin operations later this year in Abilene. “This project will not only support the re-industrialization of the United States but also provide a strategic capability to protect the national security of America and its allies,” OpenAI wrote in a blog post. Alphabet, meanwhile, is spending $3.3 billion on two new data centers in South Carolina. One issue Meta did not address: the environmental impact of these massive data centers. A scientific paper published last year on Cornell Universitys preprint server arXiv (titled “The Unpaid Toll: Quantifying the Public Health Impact of AI”) estimated that pollution from AI data centers could cause up to 1,300 premature deaths annually by 2030. It also estimated that public health costs related to their air pollution are already at $20 billion per year. By 2030, the researchers forecast, the public health burden from AI data centers will be twice that of the U.S. steel industry, and could rival emissions from all the cars, buses, and trucks in California. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has dismantled dozens of climate programs in its first 100-plus days. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is also considering overturning previous findings that classify greenhouse gas pollution as harmfulpotentially weakening its ability to regulate carbon emissions.
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