[cloud8]

"[The Shelby proposal] doesn't raise the conforming loan limit in high-cost housing areas, an increase that would allow Fan and Fred to use their taxpayer subsidy to grow even more market share."

I don't understand this sentence.

[ikka]

There is an upper limit on the size of the loan, so in more expensive areas the limit is less than what some houses are going for.

The taxpayer subsidy is I assume, the lower cost of borrowing due to Fan and Fred essentially being government-backed and thus very good credit risks.