We test whether consolidation leads to increased profits through increased operating economies of scale. For a sample of apartment REITs, we find that economies of scale with respect to portfolio acquisitions existed in 1994 and 1995, however, this advantage has declined over time. While growth...

Efficiency grows, in production and in operations, as size increases. This incentive has led to recent record levels of mergers, acquisitions, and global consolidation in such diverse industries as railroads, oil and gas refining, cement, steel, and brewing. The consolidation of the banking...

This paper introduces a more detailed specification of the default process on single family residential mortgages: the borrower’s ability to reinstate the mortgage out of default prior to foreclosure. Inclusion of this detail allows for a more thorough analysis of lender loss mitigation...

In this study, we develop and test a methodology to assess the impact of affordable lending efforts on homeownership rates. More narrowly, we examine the impact of using flexible underwriting guidelines, primarily changes in the downpayment and housing burden requirements, on the affordability...

We find that the real estate market is vulnerable to sustained deviations from long-run equilibrium prices, in part due to the role played by the banking system. The impact of the banking system in magnifying the real estate cycle occurs because high real estate prices increase the economic...