The Italian Mortgage Market : Characteristics, Evolution and Regional Differences - Evidence from a Bank Survey

The paper reviews the supply of different mortgage instruments to Italian households by means of data obtained from a survey conducted in 2007 by the Bank of Italy over more than 300 banks. The results document significant innovations in housing finance in the last five years: a greater variety of mortgage products is supplied, along with a widespread easing of borrowing constraints facing households. The supply of new products is already routinely provided by large and medium banks, while it is spreading among local cooperative banks. It is significantly higher among banks which have adopted credit scoring techniques to select clients