GSE market shares have fallen over the past three years to about 14 percent, partly as the result of the companies’ accounting and internal control problems, which resulted in agreements with OFHEO to limit portfolio growth (presumably on a temporary basis).
The spread between mortgage rates and Treasury yields rose during the second half of the 1990s, peaked in late 2002 and 2003, and has declined since, implying that higher mortgage spreads are associated with higher GSE market shares.