mortgage or real Estate loans by banks

mortgage are also important earning assets for commercial banks, as evidenced by the fact that total assets in this form are second only to business loans. As indicated earlier, a fairly steady proportion of about one fourth of total bank loans has been in mortgages throughout the postwar period. Commercial banks are a considerable, but not the primary, source of funds for the mortgage market as a whole. As mortage lenders, commercial banks are exceeded in importance by saving and loan associations, life insurance companies, and mutual savings banks. Commercial banks now account for more 14 per cent of total mortgage held by all institutions. This proportion has also remained fairly constant in the postwar period.