Purpose – This paper aims to study to what extent an insurance based on a house price index provides equity protection for homeowners. Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a novel dataset of all housing market transactions in the metropolitan area of Melbourne 1990-2006, to construct...

Purpose – The American Dream and homeownership are sometimes thought of as one and the same. A belief that homeownership is vital to the fabric of a vibrant society has led to government policies that encourage homeownership. This suggests that homeownership and societal well-being are...

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the anatomy of a real estate bubble. In the process, the paper identifies three phases of the market's evolution: flips, flops and foreclosures. An examination of the Las Vegas real estate market illustrates the three phases. Design/methodology/approach –...