WATCH: Maxwell Says Esty 'Does Not Hear Us, Does Not Represent Us'

Last of a four-part series written by Scott Benjamin

DANBURY, CT-- Real Estate investor Matt Maxwell of Newtown, who is one of four candidates seeking the Republican nomination in the Fifth Congressional District, says housing prices have inched slightly closer to where they were before the subprime mortgage crisis of eight years ago, but that “there still isn’t enough demand” for houses.

He said even though Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were reviled by some elected officials during the financial crisis, both entities remain major players in the mortgage market.

Washington Post economics columnist Robert Samuelson wrote last year that the two Government Sponsored Enterprises (GSE) went bankrupt in September 2008 at the height of the financial crisis and the federal government had to provide $187 million in aid as they were placed in a conservatorship.

Elected officials said both enterprises “had to go,” Samuelson stated. However, in 2015 the GSEs handled about half of the new mortgages for home purchases, even after President Barack Obama called in 2013 for an emphasis on private lending.

During the 2010 campaign in the Fifth Congressional District, Republican nominee Sam Caligiuri of Waterbury blamed most of the fiscal crisis on the practices of+ Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Maxwell said he agrees with the president that there should be more private lending for mortgages.

“One of the reasons that these government sponsored entities are doing so many mortgages is that the economy is not doing well,” he said. “With a growing economy there would be more private lending and the government entities would be less involved.”

Maxwell said he believes in free trade, but added that he would have to study the fast-track Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation and the proposed 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) before taking a position.

The TPA was approved by Congress last Spring following an ambitious lobbying effort by President Obama. Under TPA, Congress can only ratify or reject proposed trade agreements. There is no way of amending them.

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has said the upper body will not consider the TPP before the November election. The proposed agreement would cover 40 percent of the global economy. It includes the United States, which is ranked first in the world in gross domestic product, and Japan, which ranks third.

Incumbent two-term Democrat Elizabeth Esty of Cheshire opposed TPA last year.

The Cook Political Report lists the district as “likely Democratic” for 2016.

However, with Trump as the likely Republican nominee, the dynamics might change since he has helped generate record turnouts in some of the GOP primaries and has taken positions on free trade, funding for Planned Parenthood and spending for entitlement programs that might attract more Democrats than other GOP nominees have had over the recent years.

The Democratic nominee for president has won the Fifth District in every election since 1996.

Additionally, Green Party candidate Stephanie Piddock of Torrington is an area coordinator for Democratic presidential contender Bernie Sanders. Her candidacy might take away votes that would otherwise go to Esty.