In this paper we examine the impact of the combined state and federal mortgage interest tax subsidies to homeownership on homeownership attainment, using panel data from 1984 to 2007 and exploiting the fact that the value of these subsidies may vary by income group across states and over time and depending on local housing market conditions and lending standards. We also exploit the fact that h...

This Working Paper should not be reported as representing the views of the IMF. The views expressed in this Working Paper are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of the IMF or IMF policy. Working Papers describe research in progress by the author and are published to elicit comments and to further debate. This paper estimates the evolution of equilibrium real home prices ...

We draw a distinction between the concepts of purchase affordability (whether a household is able to borrow enough funds to purchase a house) and repayment affordability (the burden imposed on a household of repaying the mortgage). We operationalize this distinction in the context of a new methodology for constructing affordability measures that draws on the value-at-risk concept and takes acco...

This article adds technology choice to a free-entry Cournot model with linear demand and constant marginal costs. Firms can choose from a discrete set of technologies. This simple framework yields non-existence of equilibrium, existence of multiple equilibria and equilibria in which ex-ante identical ̄rms choose di®erent technologies as possible outcomes. I provide a full characterization of th...

We consider a rent control regime where rent increases on, and eviction of, a sitting tenant are not allowed. However when an apartment becomes vacant the landlord is free to negotiate a new rent. We argue that this stylized system is a good (though polar) approximation for many rent control regimes existent today in several U.S. cities and the world over. Under such a regime, if inflation exis...

JEL classification: R21 R31 Construction quality is a major problem in China's housing market. We investigate whether the housing market could provide incentives to encourage developers to promote construction quality beyond the compulsory, minimum standards by testing the financial viability of efforts made in this field by developers. This study takes place in the city of Beijing, where the “...

Immigration and Housing Booms: Evidence from Spain We estimate empirically the effect of immigration on house prices and residential construction activity in Spain over the period 1998-2008. This decade is characterized by both a spectacular housing market boom and a stunning immigration wave. We exploit the variation in immigration across Spanish provinces and construct an instrument based on ...

This paper addresses the question of how changes in stock market wealth and housing wealth affect consumption expenditure in Australia. We approach the problem using a panel of Australian states, for which we construct data on housing and stock market wealth. We estimate the link between consumption and the components of wealth using panel-data estimation techniques, including fixed-effects ins...