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The Origins of the Indebted American Homeowner
Not long after the economic crisis began, the president's landmark Conference on Homeownership reported that "down payments of 10 percent, 5 percent, and even nothing down" had become common practice in the home-mortgage market. Reliance on second mortgages and novel financing terms, the report noted, were also widespread.
Although these developments sound all too familiar, this Conference on Homeownership was held in 1931 and the president sponsoring it was Herbert Hoover, not George W. Bush or Barack Obama. We often think of the expansion of easy mortgage financing as a relatively recent development, but the growth of indebted homeownership has older and more complicated origins.
  Echoes Chart: The Indebted American Homeowner "Financial Survey of Urban Housing," Department of Commerce, 1937.
For purchase of single-family, owner-occupied houses, based on data from 22 U.S. cities.
For purchase of single-family, owner-occupied houses, based on data from 22 U.S. cities. Source: "Financial Survey of Urban Housing," Department of Commerce, 1937.
The rules and institutions for financing homeownership weren't always as conducive to buying as they are today. In the 19th century, most Americans bought or built a home outright, or saved substantial nest eggs to make large down payments, because financial institutions either didn't ... more

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