President Donald Trump said he is weighing taking mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public more than 15 years after the government seized control of the two companies, which are at the center of the nation’s housing-finance system.

“I am giving very serious consideration to bringing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac public,” Trump posted Wednesday on Truth Social. He said he would consult with Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, as well as the firms’ chief regulator, Federal Housing Finance Agency head William Pulte.

Trump said the companies were doing “very well” and “the time would seem to be right.”

Such a move would be a massive shift for the housing market, where Fannie and Freddie play a key role by buying mortgages from lenders and selling them as securities to investors. They back roughly half the $16 trillion mortgage market.

Republicans have long argued that the companies have an unfair advantage because they were effectively backed by the government, even before Treasury formally took them over during the 2008 financial crisis. Democrats, meanwhile, are protective of the firms’ affordable housing goals.

Changing the legal status of the mortgage giants would likely require involvement from Congress. Some Republicans have floated the idea of selling the government’s stake in Fannie and Freddie as an offset for extending tax cuts, though the actual net cost of that transaction is unclear.