Over the past 80 years, Congress has assembled a system of federal housing finance enterprises (FHFEs), which have led to the long-term deterioration of credit underwriting standards, created moral hazard, and encouraged imprudent risk-taking in the housing finance system. Indeed, beginning with the New Deal–era housing policies of the 1930s, Congress has created an ever-growing apparatus of FHFEs that provides various forms of insurance and guarantees of residential home loans.
Consumers haven't had such negative views about the housing market since 2011, when home prices bottomed in the aftermath of the global financial crisis, new data show.