The demand for home mortgage assets by savings and loan associations

The purpose of this article is to analyze empirically the factors that enabled S&Ls to respond, concerning their demand for home mortgage assets, to the record high interest rates, inverted yield curves, and new competition for deposits by money market mutual funds. These factors include changing regulatory accounting procedures, increased participation in the secondary mortgage market, and increased asset diversification allowed for by Garn-St. Germain. The empirical results are based on a model of the demand for home mortgage assets specified in terms of an optimal marginal portfolio adjustment model. The results show that changing regulatory procedures and the subsequent impact on secondary mortgage markets had the most impact. The increased lending power granted by Garn-St. Germain had little effect on the demand for home mortgage assets by S&Ls.     

Determinants of Mortgage Default and Consumer Credit Use: The Effects of Foreclosure Laws and Foreclosure Delays

The mortgage default decision is part of a complex household credit management problem. We examine how factors affecting mortgage default spill over to other credit markets. As home equity turns negative, homeowners default on mortgages and home equity lines of credit at higher rates, whereas they prioritize repaying credit cards and auto loans. Larger unused credit card limits intensify the preservation of credit cards over housing debt. Although mortgage nonrecourse statutes increase default on all types of housing debt, they reduce credit card defaults. Foreclosure delays increase default rates for housing and nonhousing debts. Our analysis highlights the interconnectedness of debt repayment decisions.     

Under the Lender’s Looking Glass

This paper studies the impact of bank monitoring on the risk of US equity REITs. Using a unique, hand-collected data sample of mortgage balances, I show that bank screening and monitoring of REIT assets via utilizing secured mortgage financing (vs unsecured, public debt) lowers the overall company risk of a REIT. At the asset level, screening results in retail and office assets with higher acquisition values and located in primary markets, i.e., more transparent assets, being pledged as collateral. Further, I find evidence consistent with the role of lender monitoring for secured mortgage loans and show that properties located in closer proximity to a REIT’s headquarters are more likely to be pledged as collateral for a mortgage.     

Current Wealth,Housing Purchase,and Private Housing Loan Demand in Japan

Japanese households accumulate wealth for down payments at a high rate. Therefore, current wealth plays an important role in home acquisition as well as public loans whose direct mortgage lending is a strong support for home purchasers. We estimate the wealth effect on private mortgage debt as well as housing consumption by applying a model where mortgage-debt demand is derived from house-purchase decisions and is determined jointly with housing consumption. We use a simultaneous equation Tobit estimation method. Wealth effects on private mortgage debt, likelihood of borrowing, and housing consumption are not elastic. On the other hand, a change in housing consumption affects the likelihood of borrowing elastically much more than the private mortgage amount of borrowers. Housing and private mortgage markets fluctuate very closely with the number of participants in the mortgage market. Therefore, the number of housing starts is linked strongly to the private mortgage market.     

House prices,consumption and the role of non-Mortgage debt

This paper evaluates the strength of the relationship between house prices and consumption, through the use of debt. Whereas the existing literature has largely studied the effects of house prices on homeowner total or mortgage debt, we focus on the non-mortgage component of household borrowing, using Canadian household-level data for 1999–2007. We rely on variation in regional house prices, homeownership status and age to establish the relationship between house prices and non-mortgage debt. Then, using direct information on debt uses, we determine that house price growth was associated with a non-trivial fraction of concurrent aggregate non-housing consumption growth.     

Housing and the Tax System: How Large Are the Distortions in the Euro Area?*

This paper presents new evidence on the impact of the preferential treatment of owner‐occupied housing in the euro area. We find that tax benefits to homeowners reduce the user cost of housing capital by almost 40 per cent compared with the efficient level under neutral taxation. On average, the tax subsidy translates into an excess consumption of housing services equivalent to 7.8 per cent of the value of owner‐occupied housing, or about 30 per cent of financial asset holdings in household portfolios. The bulk of the subsidy stems from undertaxation of the return to home equity, while the average contribution of the tax rebate for mortgage interest payments is driven down by relatively low loan‐to‐value ratios in the data. However, at the margin, the tax‐induced incentive to use mortgage debt to finance the purchase of the main residence is sizeable.     

Access to bank financing and the collateral channel: The case of Tunisian firms before and after the revolution

This article is aimed to study the impact of collateral liquidity on debt-access. Such an effect is proven with regard to the difficult economic conditions which ensued from the Tunisian revolution in 2011. The results show that the previously acquired liquid assets enhance debt access. This result is realized by a first measure through the positive relationship between inventories and short term debt and between fixed assets and long term debt. A second measure highlights the positive effect of lands, buildings, machineries and equipments and the negative effect of other fixed assets on debt-access. After the revolution, the creditors lowered their lending to firms to deal with liquidity shocks in the monetary market. Also, they became more selective through their excessive demand for liquid collateral. This result is justified by the intensive effect of real estate assets (lands and buildings) and by the regressive effect of the movable assets (machineries, equipments and other fixed assets).     

Housing,Illiquidity, and Wealth

This article develops a model of asset allocation relevant for the representative consumer. Consumption is composed of two items: housing, and other goods and services. The representative household's balance sheet consists largely of a house and a mortgage. Its income statement is dominated by labor earnings, constraining cash expenditures. Housing-market behavior thus underlies intertemporal wealth and consumption allocation. With a housing-dominated portfolio and a maximizing plan, a plausible bound on the intertemporal marginal rate of substitution in consumption can be estimated for a typical household. The model takes account of idiosyncratic characteristics of housing returns and finance. Underwriting standards oblige borrowers to secure mortgage debt with a housing asset and with cash flow, usually from labor income. Access to the mortgage market depends on the loan-to-value ratio, or leverage and debt size, and the debt-coverage ratio, or cash solvency. If there are seasonals or predictable patterns in house returns, their magnitude is amplified for the typical liquidity-constrained household. Empirical results for the aggregate U.S. market confirm predictability and serial correlation in house capital gains. There are seasonals in housing returns. While there is no January effect, above-average returns are obtained during the summer months.     

基于宏观资产负债表的居民债务问题及其风险研究

本文从宏观资产负债表的编制出发,对比世界主要经济体的居民债务演变,有效度量中国居民部门的债务杠杆水平。通过宏观部门经济间的关联,构造基于存量-流量一致的部门结构化均衡模型,剖析居民部门债务风险的传导机制,分析货币、财政和地产政策在居民债务风险防范中的作用。结果表明:中国居民部门金融资产负债率和偿债比例偏高,偿债压力逐步加大。但适中的资产负债率和较高的潜在经济增速为我国居民部门债务风险的化解提供了足够的空间。紧缩性货币政策有利于居民部门去杠杆化,但由此引发的消费减速和经济下行将导致企业和政府部门债务攀升;减税较政府直接支出更能激发消费内需、降低居民和企业债务杠杆,同时,长期经济的好转利于政府债务风险稳定。紧缩性地产政策虽然有助于长期经济结构的调整,但需防范短期经济下滑。     

我国居民杠杆率现状及影响因素研究

近年来,我国居民部门杠杆率的快速上升引起社会各界关注。本文使用货币信贷和城镇储户调查数据,对我国居民部门杠杆率和偿债能力现状进行了分析,并运用各省住户贷款数据计算各省的居民杠杆率,使用面板数据模型对居民杠杆率上升的原因进行了实证分析。结果表明,房价的快速上涨和住房销售的增长都对居民部门杠杆率的上升有显著正向影响,其中房价上涨的影响程度更大。此外,金融发展水平和老年人抚养比对居民杠杆率有正向影响,少年人抚养比对居民杠杆率有负向影响。     

家庭债务与居民消费：一个文献综述

近年来我国家庭杠杆率快速上升,家庭债务与居民消费关系引发热议,相关文献 反映出：（1）家庭适度负债能促进消费增长;（2）家庭杠杆率上升存在临界值;（3）快速加 杠杆是主要风险来源;（4）识别家庭债务异质性可以缓解信贷约束。目前我国家庭杠杆率依 然处于合理区间,但需重视快速加杠杆带来的风险隐患。为保持居民消费平稳增长,本文提出 从供给侧优化金融条件,从需求侧约束快速加杠杆行为,并发挥减税的收入调节作用等建议。     

我国居民杠杆率现状及影响因素研究

近年来,我国居民部门杠杆率的快速上升引起社会各界关注。本文使用货币信贷和城镇储户调查数据,对我国居民部门杠杆率和偿债能力现状进行了分析,并运用各省住户贷款数据计算各省的居民杠杆率,使用面板数据模型对居民杠杆率上升的原因进行了实证分析。结果表明,房价的快速上涨和住房销售的增长都对居民部门杠杆率的上升有显著正向影响,其中房价上涨的影响程度更大。此外,金融发展水平和老年人抚养比对居民杠杆率有正向影响,少年人抚养比对居民杠杆率有负向影响。     

央行票据再考察:债务置换工具视角

与把央行票据性质定位为中央银行债券的传统角度不同,本文从债务置换工具的视角重新阐释了央行票据的性质。我国的"外汇资产—人民币"发行模式导致了货币的超额发行,央行票据是对中央银行超额发行债务的置换。外汇资产的递增趋势决定了央行票据作为债务置换工具的可持续性。针对央行票据过度膨胀带来的负面影响,文章认为,应该从根源上解决人民币超额发行问题。     

Credit Crunch and Target Capital Structure: Empirical Studies Based on Natural Experimentin China

Abstract:

Data from China’s credit crunch, which started in 2007, is utilized to establish a natural experiment to investigate the impact of the credit crunch on target capital structures. The sample consists of 1,128 listed companies in China during the period 2000–2011. The interest-bearing debt to total assets ratio is used as a representative indicator for capital structures. The results indicate that the credit crunch was associated with a decrease in the target debt ratios for all listed companies. Small firms, privately owned enterprises, and firms with weak mortgage capabilities responded more sensitively to the credit crunch by showing a substantial decrease in target debt ratios.     

基于VECM模型的信贷约束、家庭债务与中国宏观经济波动分析

采用1997~2013年家庭债务、贷款价值比与 GDP 增长率等变量数据,在借鉴 Kim 的模型基础上,构建 VECM 模型,检验了信贷约束、家庭债务与中国宏观经济波动之间的关系。结果表明：短期内宽松的借贷约束促进了家庭债务的增加,从而推动经济增长,但从长期来看,宽松的借贷约束会导致家庭债务过高,阻碍长期经济增长;与居民消费率、家庭债务等变量相比,贷款价值比、利率对宏观经济波动的影响较大。因此,政府决策部门应制定合理的消费金融政策,居民应通过优化家庭资产组合,以实现家庭债务的可持续性增长,从而促进经济增长。     

Moral Hazard versus Liquidity in Household Bankruptcy

This paper studies the role of moral hazard and liquidity in driving household bankruptcy. First, I estimate that increases in potential debt forgiveness have a positive, but small, effect on filing using a regression kink design. Second, exploiting quasi-experimental variation in mortgage payment reductions, I estimate that filing is five times more responsive to cash-on-hand than relief generosity. Using a sufficient statistic, I show the estimates imply large consumption-smoothing benefits of bankruptcy for the marginal filer. Finally, I conclude that 83% of the filing response to dischargeable debt comes from liquidity effects rather than a moral hazard response to financial incentives.     

SOME EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE ON THE USE OF FINANCIAL LEASES

In this paper, the impact of certain firm-specific factors on the level of financial leases used by corporations is examined. An industry analysis indicates that firms in certain industries tend to lease more than other firms. A Tobit analysis of the degree to which approximately 600 firms lease assets indicates that certain factors—including the debt ratio, presence of mortgage debt, level of subordinated debt, presence of restrictions on leasing, number of bonds in a firm's capital structure, and the firm's debt rating—are significantly related to the degree of leasing. Other factors, including the firm's tax rate, were not found to be significant, contrary to popular expectations.     

Where Credit Is Due: Residential Mortgage Finance in Canada, 1901 to 1954

The experience of Canada in the first half of this century indicates that the importance of institutional mortgage lending for the growth of homeownership can be overstated. Home ownership rates in Canada and the United States were similar, but many fewer Canadians than Americans relied on lending institutions. Fewer incurred debt of any sort. A case study of Hamilton, Ontario, based on land titles records indicates that this was especially true during the interwar years. No Canadians lived in large metropolitan areas, where mortgage debt was most prevalent, while many built in stages as their finances allowed. Moreover, even in the early 1950s, half of all residential mortgage debt in Canada was held by private individuals, with brokers playing an important role. Despite the importance of the personal sector, above all in the markets for older homes and junior mortgages, the Canadian government made no effort to improve the way in which it operated.     

Houses as ATMs: Mortgage Refinancing and Macroeconomic Uncertainty

Mortgage refinancing activity associated with extraction of home equity contains a strongly countercyclical component consistent with household demand for liquidity. We estimate a structural model of liquidity management featuring countercyclical idiosyncratic labor income uncertainty, long- and short-term mortgages, and realistic borrowing constraints. We empirically evaluate its predictions for households' choices of leverage, liquid assets, and mortgage refinancing using microlevel data. Taking the observed historical paths of house prices, aggregate income, and interest rates as given, the model accounts for many salient features in the evolution of balance sheets and consumption in the cross-section of households over 2001 to 2012.     

Do mortgage rates vary based on household default characteristics? Evidence on rate sorting and credit rationing

Credit screening models suggest that lenders vary loan rates and debt ceilings across applicants on the basis of credit risk. We argue that regulatory constraints such as Fair Lending Laws may preclude rate sorting while increasing lender use of debt ceilings to adjust for applicant credit risk. Using household data from the 1983 SCF, we find that mortgage rates do not vary with applicant credit risk whereas related studies find that debt ceilings vary with borrower risk attributes. Together, these findings support arguments that regulatory constraints reduce rate sorting while increasing the use of non-price terms in the mortgage contract.