[20220113]IF11715_金融服务简介：住房金融体系.pdf

https:/crsreports.congress.gov Updated January 13, 2022Introduction to Financial Services: The Housing Finance SystemBackground Prior to the Great Depression, U.S. residential mortgage markets operated at local levels and were highly sensitive to local conditions. Lenders funded mortgages by relying on local deposits, which were concentrated in heavily populated areas, such as Chicago and New York, rather than less populated areas in need of loans. Interstate banking restrictions made it difficult to move funds from geographical areas with large concentrations of deposits to areas with comparatively smaller amounts. The immobility of funds contributed to differences in mortgage rates and underwriting (loan qualifying) criteria across the nation. During economic downturns, frequent deposit withdrawals led to cash flow (liquidity) shortages that stymied lending. At the time, savings and loan associations (S&Ls)nonprofit, member-owned cooperative financial institutions that relied on members savings deposits to fund mortgageswere the primary sources of home financing during liquidity shortages. S&Ls were unable to borrow temporary funds from the Federal Reserve System because they we