Fannie Mae moves in Texas and Washington, D.C., getting underway

Fannie Mae is starting to relocate staff in the Dallas area into a new office and the government-sponsored enterprise will soon move its Washington, D.C., headquarters.

Fannie's move to consolidate more than 1,500 Dallas area employees and some of its technological resources into a new office facility in Plano, Texas, is on track to continue through the first quarter of next year. The new office is located in Plano's Granite Park office complex, and Fannie Mae employees in the area primarily handle servicing-related functions.

The Dallas area is a central location for many of the industry's mortgage servicing operations, including its default functions. When home-mortgage servicing work slows due to foreclosure suspensions that typically occur during the winter holidays, it can be an optimal time for servicing operations to move.

In addition to its move in the Dallas area, Fannie Mae will soon begin moving its headquarters office in Washington, D.C., through a relocation that will occur in multiple phases over the course of the coming year.

Last year, expenses related to construction done in preparation for Fannie Mae's move in Washington, D.C., came under scrutiny following a report from the Federal Housing Finance Agency's Office of Inspector General that was critical of the expenditures and cost overruns.

The Office of Inspector General's report recommended tighter cost controls, which the FHFA subsequently planned to implement to the extent that it was "not already doing so," FHFA Director Mel Watt said in his response to the recommendations made in June 2016.