The roughly $129.4 billion New York State Common Retirement Fund (CRF) has kicked in a half billion dollars to help prop up the Empire State’s mortgage market.
In an announcement today, Thomas DiNapoli, state Comptroller and sole trustee of the pension fund, said that the one million-member Fund has committed $500 million in New York mortgages provided by Fannie Mae. The deal closed April 16, a May 6 press release said.
“This is a great way to get a solid fixed-income investment for the Fund while at the same time promoting lending for New York homebuyers,” DiNapoli said in the statement. “This is good for the Fund and good for New York.”
In 1981, the CRF started investing in the state’s “direct mortgage pools.”
With these commitments, the release states that the Fund “encourages banks to lend to New York state residents” and at the same time, it adheres “to [its] overall fixed-income strategy.”
The retirement plan’s asset allocations include 70% to equity and nearly 30% to bonds.
With last month’s transaction, the Albany-based retirement scheme now has about $10.2 billion committed to New York mortgages, the release said.
