Briefing
It's a Wonderful Loan: A Short History of Building and Loan Associations
Price, David A.; Walter, John R. (2019-01)
Prior to the advent of modern home mortgage markets in the United States, markets in which mortgage-backed securities and government-sponsored enterprises now play significant roles, prospective homebuyers had to rely on other mechanisms of home finance. For about a century, cooperative organizations known as building and loan associations, a concept imported from Britain, served millions of American savers and homebuyers.
Richmond Fed Economic Brief , Issue January