Special report | Housing finance

A decade on from the housing crash, new risks are emerging

Shadow banks originate around half America’s mortgages

DURING THE broadcast of the 39th Super Bowl in 2005, there was an advert for mortgages from a firm called Ameriquest. “Don’t judge too quickly,” ran the slogan. “We won’t.” Ameriquest also sponsored the half-time show, where Paul McCartney opened with “Drive My Car”. Two years later and the firm was no more, part of the wider crisis in the mortgage market which prompted a global recession and nearly caused the financial system to collapse.

This article appeared in the Special report section of the print edition under the headline “Whack-a-mole”

The horrible housing blunder: Why the obsession with home ownership is so harmful

From the January 18th 2020 edition

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