Real estate investment accounts for a quarter of total fixed asset investment (FAI) in China. The real estate sector's extensive industrial and financial linkages make it a special type of economic activity, especially where the credit creation process relies primarily on collateral, like in...

This paper identifies a new mechanism leading to inefficiency in capital reallocation at theextensive margin when an economy experiences a sectoral boom. I argue that imperfectionsin the financial market and capital barriers to entry in the booming sector create amisallocation of managerial...

We evaluate and partially challenge the 'household leverage' view of the Great Recession. In the data, employment and consumption declined more in states where household debt declined more. We study a model where liquidity constraints amplify the response of consumption and employment to changes...

During the last decade, Hong Kong SAR has experienced a large increase in house prices and credit, prompting the authorities to respond with several rounds of tightening macroprudential rules and increasing stamp duty taxes. This paper provides a Dynamic Stochastic General Equilibrium (DSGE)...

China's real estate market rebounded sharply after a temporary slowdown in 2014-2015.This paper uses city-level data to estimate the range of house price overvaluation acrosscity-tiers and assesses the main risks of a sharp housing market slowdown. If house pricesrise further beyond...

China's residential real estate sector plays an important role in the economy and has been a key driver of growth. Since 2014 the sector has softened visibly, reflecting overbuilding across many cities. An orderly adjustment of the sector is welcome. The key questions are how severe the...

The sharp rise of house prices in China's Tier-1 cities has fostered a great deal of commentary about the possibility of bubbles forming there. However, China's unique housing market characteristics make it difficult to assess the macroeconomic severity of bursting bubbles, even if they exist....

Housing is by far the most important asset in Chinese households' balance sheets. However, despite forceful and frequent government interventions, the rise in Chinese housing prices has not been contained as much as intended, a trend that has not been reversed by the COVID-19 shock. In this...

Housing cycles and their impact on the financial system and the macroeconomy have become the center of attention following the global financial crisis. This paper documents the characteristics of housing cycles in a large set of countries, and examines the determinants of house price movements....