The reason for this is that the federal government encourages home ownership by making the tax laws very friendly to home owners, especially to those with a mortgage. (1secondmortgage.com)
With the government encouraging home ownership, banks reduced their requirements to borrow and started to lower their interest rates. (investopedia.com)
Some people say we shouldn't encourage home ownership because some people shouldn't own homes. (realtormag.realtor.org)