We introduce a new measure of the price charged by financial intermediaries for connecting mortgage borrowers with capital market investors. Based on administrative lender pricing data, we document that the price of intermediation reacts strongly to variation in demand, reflecting capacity constraints of mortgage originators. This positive comovement of price with quantity reduced the pass-through of quantitative easing. We also find a notable upward trend in this price between 2008 and 2014, likely due to increased legal and regulatory burden in the mortgage market. The trend led to an implicit cost to borrowers of nearly $100 billion over this period.

中文翻译：

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抵押贷款市场金融中介价格随时间变化


我们引入了一种新的衡量金融中介机构为连接抵押贷款借款人和资本市场投资者而收取的价格的指标。根据行政贷款人定价数据，我们记录了中介价格对需求变化的强烈反应，反映了抵押贷款发起人的能力限制。这种价格与数量的正向联动减少了量化宽松的传导效应。我们还发现 2008 年至 2014 年间该价格呈显着上升趋势，这可能是由于抵押贷款市场的法律和监管负担增加所致。在此期间，这一趋势给借款人带来了近 1000 亿美元的隐性成本。