participants at Hunter College for comments and conversations that have improved this paper. We are responsible for any remaining errors. Abstract We investigate the effect of house price changes on MSA-level divorce rates using data for 1991-2010 from the Current Population Survey and the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Our findings suggest that changing house prices significantly affect divor...

This paper develops a Tobin’s q model of house prices which shows that changes in interest rates, demography, and income are likely to have only temporary effects on house prices while house prices in the long run are determined by prices of developed land, value added taxes, stamp duties, and construction costs. Empirical estimates show that agricultural land prices are a proxy for urban land ...

Even though economic models have been relatively successful in explaining the long run patterns of house prices, they have more difficulties in explaining short run developments of the housing markets. However, the fact that during such ‘bubbles’ the spatial pattern of house prices, which can mainly be attributed to accessibility differences, usually remains unchanged, suggests that the irratio...

House prices in the Australian capital cities have been increasing over the last two decades. An over 10% average annual increase arises in the capital cities. In Melbourne, Brisbane and Perth, the house prices increased by more than 15% annually, while the house prices in Darwin increased by even higher at about 21%. It is surprising that, after a decrease in 2008, the house prices in the Aust...

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...

mortgage debt market and thereby increase the losses lenders experience on loan defaults. The popularity of nontraditional mortgage loans, such as interest-only loans and adjustable-rate loans that permit negative amortization (“option ARMS”), raises additional concern about default risk because such loans expose borrowers to more interest-rate and house-price risk than traditional fixed-rate, ...

This paper examines the long run relation between prices and rents for houses in Amsterdam from 1650 through 2005. We first demonstrate that these series are cointegrated, a necessary condition for studying movements of the rent-price ratio. We then estimate the deviation of house prices from fundamentals and find that these deviations can be persistent and long-lasting. Lastly, we look at the ...

Housing is a major component of wealth. Since house prices fluctuate considerably over time, it is important to understand how these fluctuations affect households’ consumption decisions. Rising house prices may stimulate consumption by increasing households’ perceived wealth, or by relaxing borrowing constraints. This paper investigates the response of household consumption to house prices usi...

Immigration and House Prices in the UK This article studies the effect of immigration on house prices in the UK. It finds that immigration has a negative effect on house prices and presents evidence that this negative effect is due to the mobility response of the native population. Natives respond to immigration by moving to different areas and those who leave are at the top of the wage distrib...