. it is, of course, difficult to determine which role this played in counteracting the development of the housing market. at any rate, prices undeniably rose rapidly. however, the fact that the riksbank clearly indicated that the development of household indebtedness and housing prices were not sustainable in the long term and that monetary policy considered this circumstance may have played an important role in curbing this development. in that case, this is exactly what is meant by leaning against the wind. the housing market today housing prices have recently started to rise again, which has aroused some attention, not without reason. it is undeniably remarkable that housing prices are rising and that the rate of increase of the banks ’ lending to households has started to grow again, at the same time as gdp is very weak and unemployment is rising. however, it seems reasonable to believe that this is because it is inexpensive to borrow money due to the low interest rates prevailing. rising stock market rates and steadily - growing consumer confidence are certainly also significant. household borrowing to invest in housing is also an effect we actually hoped to achieve by implementing a low interest rate. it is contributing to supporting demand and employment. even so, household saving has risen rapidly since 2007, from approximately eight to around 13 per cent of disposable income. over the short term, i do not consider the development of the housing market to be a problem. housing prices in sweden have certainly risen rather rapidly in real terms too, but there are good explanations for this. one such explanation is the low rate of housing construction in recent years, while another is provided by migration to metropolitan areas. the greatest price rises, without comparison, are found precisely in stockholm, goteborg and, above all, malmo. due to the taxation system and other regulations, we have not experienced the type of market in which households purchase homes as financial investments to then rent them out. it is easier for such markets to develop imbalances and become subject to rapid and heavy price adjustments. however, in the slightly longer term, there is reason to be vigilant. the increase in housing prices and in household debt in relation to income that we have seen over the most recent ten year period is not sustainable in the long term. there is thus a risk that an imbalance of the type i discussed previously will accumulate. at present, we cannot do much about this with monetary policy. we need to have a low interest rate for a longer period of time

5 ), earnings have shifted back toward net interest income and have been more stable in the post - crisis period, which is consistent with the idea of more sustainable and less volatile earnings streams. finally, it is useful to compare the u. s. experience to other developed economies. as shown in ( figure 6 ), large u. s. bank outcomes compare favorably to their global peers from both a profitability and capital perspective. this is supportive of the conclusion that the suite of postcrisis official sector actions in the u. s. has made the u. s. financial system more resilient, while not eroding global competitiveness. provision of financial services i will now turn to the provision of financial services by looking at indicators of different types of banking activities such as lending or underwriting activities. 10 a more rigorous analysis would identify supply and demand factors in an attempt to understand not just what has changed, but why, and could allow an assessment of whether financial services are efficiently provided. nonetheless, this perspective provides a benchmark from the pre - crisis period to support some initial conclusions. in terms of traditional lending, ( figure 7 ) shows that the ratio of aggregate bank loans to gdp — a rough measure of credit intermediated through the banking sector — has recovered from the postcrisis low and is consistent with historical levels. in addition, aggregate net lending revenues, proxied by net interest income and scaled by gdp, are near historic norms despite compression of net interest margins in the low rate environment. survey evidence of credit availability also shows ongoing provision of credit. according to the national federation of independent business, the proportion of small businesses that report credit as hard to get has declined to pre - crisis levels. 11 this is consistent with the generally easing credit conditions across most loan classes over the last several years reported in the fed ’ s senior loan officer opinion survey, particularly in commercial and auto loans, but also expanding more recently into other types of household credit. 12 this evidence suggests banks continue to provide this core financial service. 4 / 7 bis central bankers'speeches turning to capital market activities, ( figure 8 ) plots non - interest revenues from core businesses — trading, investment banking, fiduciary activities, and securities brokerage. while trading revenue has declined, non - interest revenue of other types has generally grown in line with gdp, showing the compositional shift in revenue. the changes reflect the ongoing shift toward activities that generate more stable income streams such as fi