That involved more than 100 regulatory initiatives to force banks to abandon their traditional lending standards and create the subprime mortgage market.

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As the real estate market roared, FHA lending dropped to historic lows, only to rev back up once the subprime mortgage market bottomed out.

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The fragmented market structure of mortgage originators in the subprime-lending industry may also have contributed.

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The debasement of lending standards for the subprime market soon spread throughout the mortgage markets.

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With the housing market stalling, the same went for some mortgage lending, especially at the risky, subprime end.

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