Holes in the Dike: the global savings glut, U.S. house prices and the long shadow of banking deregulation

We show how capital inflows into and financial deregulation within the United States
interacted in driving the recent boom and bust in U.S. housing prices. Interstate banking
deregulation during the 1980s cast a long shadow: in states that opened their banking
markets to out-of-state banks earlier, house prices were more sensitive to aggregate
U.S. capital inflows during 1990-2012. Capital inflows relaxed the value-at-risk
constraints of geographically diversified (‘integrated’) U.S. banks more than those of
local banks. Therefore, integrated banks absorbed a larger share of capital inflows and
expanded mortgage lending more. This drove up housing prices.