Home finance: resales now No. 1

New-home financing is no longer the staple of the home finance business. According to figures released by the Federal Home Loan Bank of Boston, in the early 1970s the financing of new-home sales accounted for more than two-thirds of estimated mortgages closed. By 1975, however, resale volume was running even with new-home sales, and by 1980 the number of existing homes financed was double the number of new homes financed.

With inflation and the shift to resales, the Federal Home Loan Bank maintains , more and more of aggregate home financing has gone to finance inflated home costs. The bank estimates that by the end of the decade, half of all home financing was being used to fund the increased prices of existing homes being resold.