Abstract
Six papers, plus discussions, explore the causes of current real estate problems and their implications for financial institutions and public policy, focusing on the United States. Topics include patterns and determinants of metropolitan house prices, 1977-91; how the commercial real estate boom undid the banks; financial institutions and the collapse of real estate markets; bank capital and the role of bank credit; regulating the alliance between banks and real estate; and tax reform and the housing market in the late 1980s. Contributors are mainly economists. Browne and Rosengren are with the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.