Global House Price Fluctuations: Synchronization and Determinants

House Price Indexes and the Global Financial Crisis

Why is this topic of house price indexes important? The Global Financial Crisis has several causes but a main cause was a housing bubble in the U.S. which led banks to make mortgage loans that were based on the assumption that house prices were not rising unusually quickly. If accurate regional house price indexes for the U.S. would have been widely available to the public, it is unlikely that ...

Inventory Fluctuations and Price Discrimination: The Determinants of Price Variation in Car Retailing∗

We show that variation in prices for new cars are in part the result of scarcity rents. Consistent with theoretical predictions, a dealership moving from a situation of shortage to one of ample inventory lowers transaction prices by about 1% ceteris paribus, or $230 on the average car. Shorter resupply times also decrease transaction prices for cars in excess demand. Transaction prices for cars...

No Price Like Home : Global House Prices , 1870 2012

How have house prices evolved over the long run? This paper presents annual house prices for 14 advanced economies since 1870. We show that real house prices stayed constant from the 19th to the mid-20th century, but rose strongly and with substantial crosscountry variation in the second half of the 20th century. Land prices, not replacement costs, are the key to understanding the trajectory of...

Understanding House-Price Dynamics

*The views expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia or the Federal Reserve System. or most homeowners, housing is the single most important component of their nonpension wealth. Therefore, a change in house prices greatly affects the total wealth of many households. Furthermore, movements in house prices can af...

House Price Index Methodologies