Housing credit will become easier to get, making homeownership more affordable for low-income Americans.

We all have heard about government-controlled housing finance firms Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, but fewer of us are likely familiar with the agency that regulates them: the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA). This agency regularly evaluates these two firms and sets goals for them in order to keep the national housing market healthy and stable.

The FHFA recently released new goals for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for 2015 to 2017. In the next couple of years, the FHFA expects to see both firms make it easier for all Americans to get access to the housing credit they need.

Specifically, the FHFA has mandated that the firms need to increase the number of loans they back for low-income families until those loans make up 24 percent of their single-family home mortgages. This is only a slight increase from the 23 percent rule of 2014, but these FHFA goals will be life changing for the extra 1 percent of families who will be able to become homeowners this year.

The FHFA also wants to make homeownership more affordable for families already in their home, and has mandated that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to increase the amount of refinancing purchases they undertake for low-income families.

Just because we’re waiting for these changes to take effect doesn’t mean you have to wait to get into a home. To learn more about just how affordable homeownership can be, visit Ranch & Coast Mortgage Group Inc. Serving Solana Beach and the neighboring California cities, we can show you how to get the mortgage you need on the house you want in a way that works for your budget.