WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama has concluded that the government must continue to play a significant role in the nation’s mortgage market, extending a federal loan subsidy for most homebuyers, according to people familiar with the matter.
Obama, who has promised a new vision for how the nation finances homebuying, has directed a team to develop a proposal that would largely maintain the government’s role as an insurer of mortgages for most borrowers.
The proposal could even preserve Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants owned by the government, although under different names and with new significant constraints, said people knowledgeable about the discussions.
If this approach becomes law, it probably would keep in place the kind of popular home loans that have been around for decades — 30-year fixed-rate mortgages with relatively low interest rates.
