(a) General. FHFA shall determine whether an Enterprise shall receive full, partial, or no credit toward achievement of any of the housing goals for a transaction that otherwise qualifies under this part. In this determination, FHFA will consider whether a transaction or activity of the Enterprise is substantially equivalent to a mortgage purchase and either creates a new market or adds liquidity to an existing market, provided however that such mortgage purchase actually fulfills the Enterprise's purposes and is in accordance with its Charter Act.

(b) Not counted. The following transactions or activities shall not be counted for purposes of the housing goals and shall not be included in the numerator or the denominator in calculating either Enterprise's performance under the housing goals, even if the transaction or activity would otherwise be counted pursuant to paragraph (c) of this section:

(1) Equity investments in low-income housing tax credits;

(2) Purchases of State and local government housing bonds except as provided in paragraph (c)(8) of this section;

(3) Purchases of single-family non-conventional mortgages and multifamily non-conventional mortgages, except:

(i) Multifamily mortgages acquired under a risk-sharing arrangement with a Federal agency;

(ii) Multifamily mortgages under other multifamily mortgage programs involving Federal guarantees, insurance or other Federal obligation where FHFA determines in writing that the financing needs addressed by the particular mortgage program are not well served and that the mortgage purchases under such program should count under the housing goals;

(4) Commitments to buy mortgages at a later date or time;

(5) Options to acquire mortgages;

(6) Rights of first refusal to acquire mortgages;

(7) Any interests in mortgages that the Director determines, in writing, shall not be treated as interests in mortgages;

(8) Mortgage purchases to the extent they finance any dwelling units that are secondary residences;

(9) Single-family refinancing mortgages that result from conversion of balloon notes to fully amortizing notes, if the Enterprise already owns or has an interest in the balloon note at the time conversion occurs;

(10) Purchases of subordinate lien mortgages (second mortgages);

(11) Purchases of mortgages or interests in mortgages that were previously counted by the Enterprise under any current or previous housing goal within the five years immediately preceding the current performance year;

(12) Purchases of mortgages where the property, or any units within the property, have not been approved for occupancy;

(13) Purchases of private label securities;

(14) Enterprise contributions to the Housing Trust Fund (12 U.S.C. 4568) or the Capital Magnet Fund (12 U.S.C. 4569), and mortgage purchases funded with such grant amounts; and

(15) Any combination of factors in paragraphs (b)(1) through (b)(14) of this section.

(c) Other special rules. Subject to FHFA's determination of whether an Enterprise shall receive full, partial, or no credit for a transaction toward achievement of any of the housing goals as provided in paragraph (a) of this section, the transactions and activities identified in this paragraph (c) shall be treated as mortgage purchases as described. A transaction or activity that is covered by more than one paragraph below must satisfy the requirements of each such paragraph. The mortgages (or dwelling units, for the multifamily housing goals) from each such transaction or activity shall be included in the denominator in calculating the Enterprise's performance under the housing goals, and shall be included in the numerator, as appropriate.

(1) Credit enhancements.

(i) Mortgages (or dwelling units) financed under a credit enhancement entered into by an Enterprise shall be treated as mortgage purchases for purposes of the housing goals only when:

(A) The Enterprise provides a specific contractual obligation to ensure timely payment of amounts due under a mortgage or mortgages financed by the issuance of housing bonds (such bonds may be issued by any entity, including a State or local housing finance agency); and

(B) The Enterprise assumes a credit risk in the transaction substantially equivalent to the risk that would have been assumed by the Enterprise if it had securitized the mortgages financed by such bonds.

(ii) When an Enterprise provides a specific contractual obligation to ensure timely payment of amounts due under any mortgage originally insured by a public purpose mortgage insurance entity or fund, the Enterprise may, on a case-by-case basis, seek approval from the Director for such activities to count toward achievement of the housing goals.

(2) [Reserved]

(3) Risk-sharing. Mortgages purchased under risk-sharing arrangements between an Enterprise and any Federal agency under which the Enterprise is responsible for a substantial amount of the risk shall be treated as mortgage purchases for purposes of the housing goals.

(4) Participations. Participations purchased by an Enterprise shall be treated as mortgage purchases for purposes of the housing goals only when the Enterprise's participation in the mortgage is 50 percent or more.

(5) Cooperative housing and condominiums.

(i) The purchase of a mortgage on a cooperative housing unit (“a share loan”) or a mortgage on a condominium unit shall be treated as a mortgage purchase for purposes of the housing goals. Such a purchase shall be counted in the same manner as a mortgage purchase of single-family owner-occupied units.

(ii) The purchase of a blanket mortgage on a cooperative building or a mortgage on a condominium project shall be treated as a mortgage purchase for purposes of the housing goals. The purchase of a blanket mortgage on a cooperative building shall be counted in the same manner as a mortgage purchase of a multifamily rental property, except that affordability must be determined based solely on the comparable market rents used in underwriting the blanket loan. If the underwriting rents are not available, the loan shall not be treated as a mortgage purchase for purposes of the housing goals. The purchase of a mortgage on a condominium project shall be counted in the same manner as a mortgage purchase of a multifamily rental property.

(iii) Where an Enterprise purchases both a blanket mortgage on a cooperative building and share loans for units in the same building, both the mortgage on the cooperative building and the share loans shall be treated as mortgage purchases for purposes of the housing goals. Where an Enterprise purchases both a mortgage on a condominium project and mortgages on individual dwelling units in the same project, both the mortgage on the condominium project and the mortgages on individual dwelling units shall be treated as mortgage purchases for purposes of the housing goals.

(6) Seasoned mortgages. An Enterprise's purchase of a seasoned mortgage shall be treated as a mortgage purchase for purposes of the housing goals, except where the Enterprise has already counted the mortgage under any current or previous housing goal within the five years immediately preceding the current performance year.

(7) Purchase of refinancing mortgages. The purchase of a refinancing mortgage by an Enterprise shall be treated as a mortgage purchase for purposes of the housing goals only if the refinancing is an arms-length transaction that is borrower-driven.

(8) Mortgage revenue bonds. The purchase or guarantee by an Enterprise of a mortgage revenue bond issued by a State or local housing finance agency shall be treated as a purchase of the underlying mortgages for purposes of the housing goals only to the extent the Enterprise has sufficient information to determine whether the underlying mortgages or mortgage-backed securities qualify for inclusion in the numerator for one or more housing goal.

(9) [Reserved]

(10) Loan modifications. An Enterprise's permanent modification, in accordance with the Making Home Affordable program announced on March 4, 2009, of a loan that is held in the Enterprise's portfolio or that is in a pool backing a security guaranteed by the Enterprise, shall be treated as a mortgage purchase for purposes of the housing goals. Each such permanent loan modification shall be counted in the same manner as a purchase of a refinancing mortgage.

(11)-(13) [Reserved]

(14) Seller dissolution option.

(i) Mortgages acquired through transactions involving seller dissolution options shall be treated as mortgage purchases for purposes of the housing goals, only when:

(A) The terms of the transaction provide for a lockout period that prohibits the exercise of the dissolution option for at least one year from the date on which the transaction was entered into by the Enterprise and the seller of the mortgages; and

(B) The transaction is not dissolved during the one-year minimum lockout period.

(ii) The Director may grant an exception to the one-year minimum lockout period described in paragraphs (c)(14)(i)(A) and (B) of this section, in response to a written request from an Enterprise, if the Director determines that the transaction furthers the purposes of the Safety and Soundness Act and the Enterprise's Charter Act.

(iii) For purposes of this paragraph (c)(14), “seller dissolution option” means an option for a seller of mortgages to the Enterprises to dissolve or otherwise cancel a mortgage purchase agreement or loan sale.

(d) HOEPA mortgages. HOEPA mortgages shall be treated as mortgage purchases for purposes of the housing goals and shall be included in the denominator for each applicable single-family housing goal, but such mortgages shall not be counted in the numerator for any housing goal.

(e) FHFA review of transactions. FHFA may determine whether and how any transaction or class of transactions shall be counted for purposes of the housing goals, including treatment of missing data. FHFA will notify each Enterprise in writing of any determination regarding the treatment of any transaction or class of transactions under the housing goals. FHFA will make any such determinations available to the public on FHFA's Web site, www.fhfa.gov.

[75 FR 55930, Sept. 14, 2010, as amended at 80 FR 53432, Sept. 3, 2015]