With little fanfare or formality, the Federal Housing Finance Agency radically changed how Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will lend by revising the cap structure on their multifamily business.

The new multifamily loan purchase caps will be $100 billion for each government-sponsored enterprise, or GSE, for the five quarters through the fourth quarter of 2020. Also, the new caps apply to all multifamily business — in other words, no more exclusions are allowed.

"These new multifamily caps eliminate loopholes, provide ample support for the market without crowding out private capital and significantly increase affordable housing support over previous levels," FHFA Director Mark Calabria said in prepared remarks Friday. He also warned the GSEs need to make the capital last through all five quarters.

The new rules may be a blow to developers that were counting on the GSEs to exclude green loans from their caps: Going forward, loans that finance energy and water efficiency improvements will be considered conventional business unless they meet affordability requirements. The FHFA has put affordability front and center in the agencies' new mission, seemingly crowding out at least in part green lending.

Under the new directive, FHFA requires that at least 37.5% of the GSEs' multifamily business be affordable housing.

It was in 2014 when the FHFA began setting caps on the GSEs' conventional multifamily lending, excluding several categories of businesses from their cap. By 2016, loans that financed some energy and water efficiency improvements were added to the list.

By mandating the 37.5% minimum for affordable housing and eliminating caps, green loans will likely feel the pinch.

Critics maintained the cap exclusions were extending the reach of the GSEs by allowing them to underwrite more loans than the spirit of the regulations permitted, and the Trump administration proposal reinforced the point.

"In part because of these broad exemptions, the caps have not been effective in limiting the GSEs' multifamily footprint. The GSEs have grown from owning or guaranteeing 25% of outstanding multifamily debt in early 2008 to almost 40% today," the proposal said.

The administration offered a plan to privatize Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac earlier this month. Many of the outlined points required congressional action, but the plan included administrative steps that could be taken immediately. The multifamily change is the first notable move.