Life-Cycle Housing and Portfolio Choice with Bond Markets

I study optimal housing and portfolio choice under stochastic inflation and real interest rates. Renters allocate financial wealth to stocks and bonds with different maturities. Homeowners also choose the mortgage type. I show that hedge demands and financial constraints vary over an investor's lifetime, giving rise to a pronounced life-cycle pattern in the optimal housing, stock, bond, and mortgage choice. Young homeowners take an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM) and invest financial wealth predominantly in stocks. Later in the life cycle bonds play an important role, mainly as a hedge against changing real interest rates and house prices. Fairly risk-tolerant homeowners still prefer an ARM, while more risk-averse investors rather choose a combination of an ARM and a fixed-rate mortgage.