The Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) is an agency within the Department of Housing and Urban Development. It is charged with ensuring the capital adequacy and financial safety and soundness of two government sponsored enterprises –

the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). The director is James B. Lockhart III.OFHEO also published the house price index.

The House Price Index (HPI) is a measure of the cost of single-family houses published by the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight. The HPI is measured monthly and tracks repeat sales of houses using a modified version of the weighted-repeat sales methodology proposed by Karl Case and Robert Shiller. This means that, to a large extent, it is able to adjust for the quality of the homes sold, unlike simple averages.The HPI was developed in conjunction with OFHEO’s responsibilities as a regulator of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. It is used to measure the adequacy of their capital against the value of their assets, which are primarily home mortgages.

The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) (NYSE: FNM), commonly known as Fannie Mae, is a government sponsored enterprise (GSE) sponsored by the United States government. As a GSE, it is a privately-owned corporation authorized to make loans and loan guarantees. It is not backed or funded by the U.S. government, nor do the securities it issues benefit from any explicit government guarantee or protection.This secondary mortgage market helps to replenish the supply of lendable money for mortgages and ensures that money continues to be available for new home purchases.

The name “Fannie Mae” is a creative acronym-portmanteau of the company’s full name that has been adopted officially for ease of identification.

The Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (”FHLMC”) NYSE: FRE, commonly known as Freddie Mac, is a government-sponsored enterprise (GSE) sponsored by the United States Government. As a GSE, it is a privately-owned corporation authorized to make loans and loan guarantees. It is not backed or funded by the US Government, nor do the securities it issues benefit from any government guarantee or protection.The FHLMC was created in 1970 to expand the secondary market for mortgages in the United States. Along with other GSEs, Freddie Mac buys mortgages on the secondary market, pools them, and sells them as mortgage-backed securities to investors on the open market.This secondary mortgage market helps to replenish the supply of lendable money for mortgages and ensures that money continues to be available for new home purchases. The name “Freddie Mac” is a creative acronym-portmanteau of the company’s full name that has been adopted officially for ease of identification.