Despite the existing restrictions, the mortgage market grew up in Brazil throughout the nineteenth century and beginning of XX. The institutional changes made possible the market expansion by means of banks and private agents, mainly during the second half of nineteenth century. There was an advance of the banking system, especially at the end of the nineteenth century, even with the expressive presence of foreign institutions at the beginning of the twentieth century. Although these transformations occurred in the period of the study, the mortgage market was still concentrated in the hands of private agents. Almost the totality of transactions happened between individuals. Even at the beginning of the twentieth century, when there was an advance in the banking system, the moneylenders still performed a much more significant quantity of mortgage transactions than the banks.
mortgage; credit; financial market; banks; São Paulo
