Fig. [ ]. Source: Smiley .
A large part of those assets were various kinds of mortgages but part of the increase probably boosted the amount of borrowed funds available for long-term investment through purchases of bonds and through loans to the buyers of stocks (call money).
In particular, the data on the holdings of corporate bonds (which in this table, though, seem to include mortgage-backed notes) indicate the growth in the share of such notes held by credit-creating intermediaries for their own benefit. Although in 1929 this share constituted only around 33%, this was a substantial amount in absolute terms. In addition to this, some of those bonds which were purchased by other agents could have been bought at the stock market on bank credit. Over the course of 1927, the total amount of loans on securities grew from its low point of $5,78 bln. in February to $6,81 bln. in January 1928.
Finally, to try to make an estimate of the total excess credit made available for investment in 1927-29, we may use the estimates of total net corporate long-term debt from the 1945 Survey of Current Business.