by Wolf Richter
Wolf Street
Some of the same characters that played leading roles last time.
The value of the US housing market has ballooned to $26 trillion. In many markets, prices exceed even the peak or the prior bubble that blew up so spectacularly. This construct is weighed down by $14 trillion in mortgage debt, or about 76% of US GDP. Of that, $10 trillion is owed on one- to four-family residences. The numbers are big – and they matter.
But who’s doing the lending? More and more: nonbanks, evocatively called “shadow banks.” They have now overtaken commercial banks “to grab a record slice” of government-guaranteed mortgages, Attom Data Solutions reported in its housing report.