Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by topspin 973 days ago
Government policy. The US has multiple quasi-government mortgage market makers (because just one is somehow not enough...) that define baseline terms for home mortgages, and everyone must play their tune. See Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Seriously. That's what they're named.

There is another one tangentially involved as well that I can't remember the name of.
2 comments
kennethrc 973 days ago
> See Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Seriously. That's what they're named.

Well, colloquial names for "FNMA" (Federal National Mortgage Association) and "FHLMC" (Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation) anyway

link
Gibbon1 973 days ago
Exactly. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buy about around 70 percent the mortgages issued by banks. They only by conforming mortgages, meaning conforming to their terms.

https://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/08/fannie-ma...

See also the Federal Housing administration which insures loans.

https://www.hud.gov/program_offices/housing/fhahistory

One can see there really isn't a laissez faire free market at work when it comes to housing in the US. The government is in deep and it's regulated out the ying yang.

link
topspin 973 days ago
> One can see there really isn't a laissez faire free market at work

One would think. Yet there is never a shortage of "See! That's Capitalism For You" comments.

link