Official Upbeat on Freddie, Fannie Books

In an interview with CNBC, Lockhart confirmed that OFHEO, which is the regulator for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is opposed to suggestions it remove a 30 percent capital surcharge on the two government-chartered mortgage companies.

"We think that it's very prudent to keep that in place at the moment," he said.

On Tuesday, Freddie Mac said it was considering cutting its fourth-quarter dividend by 50 percent and raising capital through preferred stock to address its slim capital cushion. Freddie Mac's capital surplus was just $600 million, the lowest surplus since 2000.

Lockhart said it might be OK to "temporarily" increase the size of the loans Freddie and Fannie can make, which are currently capped at $417,000, but it would be better if they stuck to what they know, "and that's the conforming loan market."

He said the key to helping the mortgage market will be congressional legislation for a stronger regulator so that it has the kind of powers that bank regulators have.