Dive Brief:

• Freddie Mac’s board of directors has selected real estate and financial services industry veteran Diana Reid as the company’s CEO, effective immediately, according to a Tuesday press release. 
• President and Interim CEO Michael Hutchins will continue as the company’s president. Hutchins replaced Michael J. DeVito this past March.
• Reid, who will also serve on Freddie’s board, brings more than four decades of banking, real estate, capital markets and affordable housing experience to the company. Before recently serving as an independent director and advisor to several organizations, she spent almost 12 years leading PNC Financial Services Group’s real estate business division.

Dive Insight:

Before joining PNC, Reid founded Beekman Advisors, where she provided real estate finance company owners, CEOs and boards with strategic advice and mergers-and-acquisitions execution. She also spent nearly 20 years at the investment bank formerly known as Credit Suisse First Boston.  

“I look forward to working with the board, management and my colleagues at Freddie Mac to continue and expand the company’s contributions in providing liquidity, stability and affordability for housing in communities across the country, and to ensure the company’s safety and soundness for the next generation,” Reid said in the press release.

Reid steps into the top spot at a major multifamily player. Freddie, along with Fannie Mae, provides a large share of liquidity to the apartment market. 

Although apartment lending fell by roughly half in 2023, the government-sponsored enterprises originated more than $246.2 billion of multifamily mortgages during the year. Overall, they claimed 42% of the market, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association’s annual report on the multifamily lending market, which was released last month. 

Despite controlling almost half of the market, the GSEs saw a 20% year-over-year decline in originations in the second quarter, according to a separate MBA report last month. However, they posted a 16% increase from Q1.

With such a large share of the market, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac also play a large role in shaping rental housing policy. For instance, in July, they released new resources for multifamily borrowers about new requirements for tenant protections in properties with mortgages backed by either company.

The policy change, effective Feb. 28, 2025, will require borrowers of all new GSE-backed loans to provide:

• A 30-day written notice of any rent increases.
• A 30-day written notice of lease expirations.
• A minimum five-day grace period for late rent payments without fees or any other penalties.

Click here to sign up to receive multifamily and apartment news like this article in your inbox every weekday.