Real Estate

Trump’s Fannie, Freddie Pitch: Who Stands to Win or Lose

Prospective buyers attend an open house at a home in San Francisco.

Photographer: Michaela Vatcheva/Bloomberg

President Donald Trump’s announcement that he’s weighing a public offering of US mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sent their shares soaring, extending gains this year for hedge funds and other investors to almost $50 billion.

But for US homebuyers, taking the entities public comes with risks that threaten to add more than $40,000 in costs to the typical borrower over the lifetime of the loan.