Credit Supply and the Housing Boom

Abstract

An increase in credit supply driven by looser lending constraints in the mortgage market is the key force behind four empirical features of the housing boom before the Great Recession: the unprecedented rise in home prices, the surge in household debt, the stability of debt relative to house values, and the fall in mortgage rates. These facts are more difficult to reconcile with the popular view that attributes the housing boom only to looser borrowing constraints associated with lower collateral requirements, because they shift the demand for credit.