Since the 1930s, America’s housing finance had been based on commercial banks and local savings banks, so-called savings and loans, making long-term fixed interest loans. By the late 1960s thirty-year fixed interest loans had become normal, with as little as 5 percent in down payment.10 The funding was provided by depository institutions, which offered government-insured savings accounts with capped interest rates. This was the basis on which home ownership had expanded to almost 66 percent of households by the 1970s.
