Government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs), such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, accounted for 100 percent of the mortgage market through June 2012. The lowest percentage of the share these GSEs held in the mortgage market was 95 percent in 2008, says Economic Policies for the 21st Century.

Fannie and Freddie’s losses leading up to the collapse of the housing market originated from buying mortgages in an overheated housing market. Many of the loans given out in 2006 and 2007 were in the form of interest-only and low-documentation loans. These loans accounted for 64 percent of all loses. However, once these types of loans stopped going out, the GSE’s finances picked up once again.

The Obama administration amended the terms of the bailout to require that the GSEs distribute their profits to the Treasury as dividends each quarter. This may the result of a desire to increase federal revenue. However, now that the Treasury has an incentive for the GSEs to continue profiting as they are in the status quo, there is little motivation to reform the mortgage market, letting the GSEs control 100 percent of the market.