House Prices and Bubbles in New Zealand

This paper studies actual (real) house prices relative to fundamental (real) house values in New Zealand for the period 1970–2005. Utilizing a dynamic present value model, we find disparities between actual and fundamental house prices in the early 1970s and 1980s and from 2000 to date. We model the bubble component that is related to fundamentals (the intrinsic component), making it possible to highlight whether a bubble still exists after that component is accounted for. We then analyze any remaining bubble to detect any momentum behavior. Much of the overvaluation of the housing market is found to be due to price dynamics rather than an overreaction to fundamentals.

House prices, non-fundamental components and interstate spillovers: The Australian experience

Using Australian capital city data from 1984Q3--2008Q2, this paper utilizes a dynamic present value model within a VAR framework to construct time series of house prices depicting what aggregate house prices should be given expectations of future real disposable income - the “fundamental price” - and continues by comparing capital city fundamental prices with actual prices. The extent to which revealed capital city “non-fundamental” components spillover from state to state, as well as their long-term impact is also investigated. Results provide evidence of periods of sustained deviations of house prices from values warranted by income for all state capitals with the greatest deviations arising in the NSW market and starting around 2000. In general NSW is relatively more susceptible to spillovers transmitted from other states while ACT and WA are most isolated from the rest of the country.     

Trading House Price Risk with Existing Futures Contracts

This paper examines the use of futures contracts to hedge residential real estate price risk. We examine whether existing futures contacts can effectively be used to offset volatility in national house prices. Little evidence of any simple systematic relation between national prices and futures prices is found. Since house prices are not easily replicated with a portfolio of existing futures contracts, a further implication is that the Chicago Mercantile’s introduction of a financial asset whose value reflects house prices will help complete the market. Nevertheless, the success of the CME’s new derivative contracts may be limited in light of state and regional house price correlations.

Explaining House Price Dynamics: Isolating the Role of Nonfundamentals

This paper examines the role of nonfundamentals‐based sentiment in house price dynamics, including the well‐documented volatility and persistence of house prices during booms and busts. To measure and isolate sentiment's effect, we employ survey‐based indicators that proxy for the sentiment of three major agents in housing markets: home buyers (demand side), home builders (supply side), and lenders (credit suppliers). After orthogonalizing each sentiment measure against a broad set of fundamental variables, we find strong and consistent evidence that the changing sentiment of all three sets of market participants predicts house price appreciation in subsequent quarters, above and beyond the impact of changes in lagged price changes, fundamentals, and market liquidity. More specifically, a one‐standard‐deviation shock to market sentiment is associated with a 32–57 basis point increase in real house price appreciation over the next two quarters. These price effects are large relative to the average real price appreciation of 71 basis points per quarter observed over the full sample period. Moreover, housing market sentiment and its effect on real house prices is highly persistent. The results also reveal that the dynamic relation between sentiment and house prices can create feedback effects that contribute to the persistence typically observed in house price movements during boom and bust cycles.     

我国房价的货币因素与宏观影响的动态传导研究——基于TVP-SV-VAR模型的分析

我国房地产和金融市场发展使房价进入到货币政策传导渠道中,房价与货币政策中介变量、宏观目标变量间的关系呈动态变动。本文通过TVP-SV-VAR模型研究发现:与M2和信贷相比,社会融资规模与房价的关系更稳定,且对彼此波动的反应更强;近些年房价波动对产出、物价波动的边际效应减弱,对金融稳定的影响仍较大,房价对外部因素波动的敏感性有所降低。建议国家应坚持稳定房价的总基调,把好货币供给闸门,合理管控社会融资规模增量,加强房地产各项融资监管;各地方政府应根据本地人口流入和住房库存等实际情况,合理推进房地产业发展,在发挥其积极作用的同时,防范区域金融风险。     

通货膨胀、货币供给与房地产市场关系的实证研究——基于后危机时代数据的考察

我国在2009年底推出的经济政策导致房价和物价不断攀升,央行虽然采取紧缩措施进行应对,但物价和房价仍处高位。对我国货币供给、通货膨胀及房地产之间关系进行理论和实证分析的结果显示:货币供给增加能引起物价和房价上涨;房价上涨能引起物价上涨等。因此,为了更好地应对物价波动,货币政策需关注资产价格,同时应谨慎使用货币政策应对资产泡沫,并密切注意货币流动结构,维持货币供给流向与实体经济发展相适应。     

Do prices reflect market fundamentals in real estate markets?

The purpose of this article is to examine prices on land and REIT shares for possible evidence of deviations from market fundamentals, the underlying economic forces. Models of market fundamentals are developed from the intertemporal capital asset pricing model so that risk aversion and a stochastic investment opportunity set can be incorporated in the analysis. The approach in this article is to compare ex post values of actual discounted cash flows with prices and to test whether the price series are unbiased predictors of the future discounted cash flows. Several tests of the relationship are presented, and the results suggest that prices of real estate investment trusts and prices of farm land do not always reflect fundamental value.     

金融危机期房地产业健康发展问题

综观我国房地产业的现状,金融危机使房地产业加快进入调整期,但房价依然过高,房地产市场虚火仍旺,房价震荡跌涨是其理性回归过程,预期房地产业真正回升还将有一段时间。建议:改革土地转让收费制度,以大幅度降低住房价格;采用共有产权形式解决低收入群体的住房问题。只有广大百姓的安居,才是房地产业健康发展之路。     

Modeling the behavior of real asset prices

Recently there has been much research treating housing and other real assets as financial claims, primarily in order to value their derivative assets, such as mortgages and mortgage-backed securities. Real asset prices are then typically modeled as a lognormal process, in the same manner that has traditionally been applied to firm value. The service flow or implicit value of a house is thus considered, in analogy with stock dividends, to be a fixed proportion of the fluctuating house price. We consider the appropriateness of this formulation and draw some distinctions between real assets, such as a house, and investment enterprises, such as a firm. We then propose an alternative method of formulating the service flow and the price of real assets which seems more appropriate to the economic characteristic of such assets.     

Correlated leverage and its ramifications

This paper develops a theory in which housing prices, the capital structures of banks (mortgage lenders) and the capital structures of mortgage borrowers are all endogenously determined in equilibrium. There are four main results. First, leverage is a “positively correlated” phenomenon in that high leverage among borrowers is positively correlated with high leverage among banks, and higher house prices lead to higher leverage for both. The intuition is that first-time homebuyers with fixed wealth endowments must borrow more to buy more expensive homes, whereas higher current house prices rationally imply higher expected future house prices and therefore higher collateral values on bank loans, inducing banks to be more highly levered. Second, higher bank leverage leads to greater house price volatility in response to shocks to fundamental house values. Third, a bank’s exposure to credit risk depends not only on its own leverage but also on the leverage decisions of other banks. Fourth, positive fundamental shocks to house prices dilute financial intermediation by reducing banks’ pre-lending screening, and this reduction in bank screening further increases house prices. Empirical and policy implications of the analysis are drawn out, and empirical evidence is provided for the first two main results. The key policy implications are that greater geographic diversification by banks, tying mortgage tax exemptions to the duration of home ownership, and increasing bank capital requirements when borrower leverage is high can help reduce house price volatility.     

限购政策是否降低了上市房地产企业价值？——基于强度双重差分法的经验研究

完善住房市场体系是国民经济中的重要议题,限购政策作为政府稳定和调节房地产市场的主要手段,对房地产企业以及住房市场体系建设均有重要影响。本文利用上市房地产企业2008—2013年以及2015—2019年的相关数据,通过构建强度双重差分模型实证分析了两轮限购对上市房地产企业价值的影响及其作用路径。实证结果表明:第一,两轮限购政策均显著降低了上市房地产企业市场价值,当企业在限购城市销售占比越大时,价值下降幅度越大;第二,从企业经营绩效来看,两轮限购对其实际盈利和营运能力并未产生显著影响,第一轮提高了企业偿债的经营风险,而第二轮只是影响了企业的资产增长能力;第三,两轮限购对房地产市场产生异质性影响,第一轮并未显著影响房价上涨,而第二轮则显著遏制了房价上涨;第四,从股票市场看,第一轮限购主要是通过企业经营风险影响投资者预期,而第二轮限购则是通过影响房价来改变投资者预期,这进一步凸显了“房住不炒”的政策作用。本文的研究意义主要体现在制定与推进政策时应关注预期的作用,这对于当前“房住不炒”政策的长期实施及其政策效果的长期稳定都具有一定启示。     

Real estate prices and bank stability

Real estate prices can deviate from their fundamental value due to rigid supply, heterogeneity in quality, and various market imperfections, which have two contrasting effects on bank stability. Higher prices increase the value of collateral and net wealth of borrowers and thus reduce the likelihood of credit defaults. In contrast, persistent deviations from fundamentals may foster the adverse selection of increasingly risky creditors by banks seeking to expand their loan portfolios, which increases bank distress probabilities. We test these hypotheses using unique data on real estate markets and banks in Germany. House price deviations contribute to bank instability, but nominal house price developments do not. This finding corroborates the importance of deviations from the fundamental value of real estate, rather than just price levels or changes alone, when assessing bank stability.     

高房价是否导致了区域高技能人力资本流出?

我国正处于由人口大国向人力资本强国转型的关键阶段,高技能人才资源已成为当今区域经济社会发展的第一资源;与此同时,我国已经历了一段房价全面上涨的时期,由房价高速上涨所导致的人才流出问题引起政府与公众的广泛关注。在此背景下,本文通过对大学生就业地选择的关注,考察了高房价对地区高技能人力资本流出的影响。本文的结果稳健地表明,高房价显著地提高了大学毕业生离开本地就业的概率;根据本文的估计,在2010年至2015年期间,房价的上升至少增加了区域高技能人才流出21.5%;特别地,房价的挤出作用对于较弱家庭背景的学生以及非一线城市更为严重,此外,高房价也影响了大学毕业生的职业选择。本文的研究结果指出了中国高房价可能影响长期经济社会发展的一个新的重要渠道;同时,通过对房价的关注,为地区与国家减少高技能人才流出,实现经济发展由要素驱动向创新驱动转变提供了新的启示。     

收入差距、信贷约束与房价变动

本文通过构建一个异质性代理人模型,刻画了收入差距通过信贷渠道影响房价的作用机制。研究表明,收入差距的缩小提升了低收入者的收入占比,使该类人群获得了更多的外部融资进行购房,由此产生了两方面效应:(1)信贷约束放松降低了住房流动性溢价,从而对房价产生负向影响;(2)收入上涨增加了住房边际效用较高的低收入者对房价正向影响的权重,从而使住房需求上升的效应抵消了此前的负向影响,最终促进房价上涨。通过对1970-2017年44个国家的进一步分析发现,相比于高收入者收入的下降,低收入者收入占比的上升在放松信贷约束和提升房价方面具有更显著的作用。据此本文认为:一方面要通过增加住房供给来化解城市化率提升与高房价之间的内在矛盾;另一方面,在经济增速放缓的时期,缩小收入差距,推动以“人”为核心的高质量城市化,并引导信贷资源向低收入群体倾斜是当前促进国内大循环、稳定社会融资规模和房地产市场的重要手段。     

开征物业税对房地产巿场的影响——基于省际面板数据的分析

从理论方面分析开征物业税对房地产市场的影响可以看出,物业税对房地产市场的短期影响是降低房价,而长期影响则不显著;实证方面,以1999~2008年我国30个省份的面板数据为样本,对商品房价格与拟开征物业税之间的相关关系做进一步研究的结果表明,房地产市场价格与物业税之间存在负相关关系,且开征物业税对不同地区房地产价格的影响存在差异。因此,与现行房地产税相比,物业税的开征会对房价起到更明显的抑制作用,可以缓解房地产市场过热,抑制房地产市场泡沫,有利于实现房地产市场的良性运作。     

International house prices and macroeconomic fluctuations

The paper investigates linkages between general macroeconomic conditions and the housing market for the G-7 area. Among the key results of the paper, we find that the US are an important source of global fluctuations not only for real activity, nominal variables and stock prices, but also for real housing prices. Secondly, albeit distinct driving forces for real activity and financial factors can be pointed out, sizeable global interactions are also evident. In particular, global supply-side shocks are an important determinant of G-7 house prices fluctuations. The linkage between real housing prices and macroeconomic developments is however bidirectional, with investment showing in general a stronger reaction than consumption and output to housing price shocks. Implications for the real effects of the sub-prime crisis are also explored.     

A Cross-Section Analysis of the Income Elasticity of Housing Demand in Spain: Is There a Real Estate Bubble?

Much attention has been given to claims that real estate prices in Spain are overvalued in relation to income and how plummeting house prices can jeopardize the economy (The Economist, 2003 and IMF, 2004). The measure of income elasticity on housing expenditure is often of considerable interest to applied researchers and policy makers in real estate economics, but the problem of omitted variables in some estimation techniques can lead to severe biases. In this paper we estimate the income elasticity of the demand for housing in Spain based on the cross-section of prices and income in fifty Spanish provinces from 1996 to 2002. In comparison to long-run equilibrium models fitted with time-series data, our results show a much weaker role of income growth as a vehicle for house price increases in the long run. According to our estimates, the rate of growth of house prices in Spain between 1998 and 2003 points to a real estate bubble with prices above the long-term equilibrium level.     

Joint Dynamics of House Prices and Foreclosures

This paper studies the joint transitional dynamics of the foreclosures and house prices in a standard life‐cycle incomplete markets model with housing and a realistic long‐term mortgage structure. We calibrate our model to match several long‐term features of the U.S. housing market, and analyze the effects of several unexpected and permanent shocks on the house price and the foreclosure rate both across the steady states and along the transition between the steady states. We examine permanent, unexpected shocks to the risk‐free interest rate, the minimum down‐payment ratio, and unemployment. During the transition, these shocks create large movements in house prices. More importantly, the foreclosure dynamics are quite significant along the transition compared to the steady‐state changes, and there are strong feedbacks between foreclosures and house prices. We assess the effects of a temporary reduction in the risk‐free interest rate, which has moderate effects on house prices but little effect on foreclosure dynamics. We also study the effects of an ex ante macroprudential policy, which establishes a minimum down‐payment requirement at a higher threshold. Such a macroprudential policy helps substantially stabilize both house prices and foreclosures.     

The effect of real rates of interest on housing prices

During the late 1970s, U.S. house prices were appreciating rapidly even though mortgage interest rates were climbing. Recently, interest rates have eased but prices have moderated. This study examines the role of appreciation expectations in overcoming the negative effects of nominal mortgage interest rates on house prices. Expectations of future appreciation are important determinants of house sales prices, remaining influential during periods of declining and moderating real prices, not just when prices are rising. The real rate of interest, as viewed by the homebuyer, is the mechanism for affecting change in housing price levels. Because the nominal interest rate is slow to reflect changes in expectations, these real rates vary over time. This ebb and flow of real interest rates appears to explain market price levels. Nominal rates play a role as well, primarily in the formation of appreciation expectations.     

House prices,bank instability,and economic growth: Evidence from the threshold model

This paper examines the effects of house prices on bank instability when gauged at various levels of income growth. Bank stability may respond differently to house price changes or deviations from fundamental values in an economic boom environment than in a bust circumstance. A threshold estimation technique developed by Hansen (1999) is applied to a panel of 286 U.S. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) over the period 1990Q1–2010Q4. We consider two house price indicators: the house price changes and the house price deviations from long-run equilibrium. The results suggest the existence of income growth threshold effects in the relationship between house prices and bank instability. Specifically, there are two income growth thresholds when using the house price changes and one income growth threshold when the house price deviations are applied. Robustness results using the non-MSAs sample from 1995Q1 to 2010Q4 provide further evidence of income growth threshold effects.