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