The financial crisis showed, once again, that neglecting real estate booms can have disastrous consequences. In this paper, we spell out the circumstances under which a more active policy agenda on this front would be justified. Then, we offer tentative insights on the pros and cons as well as...

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....

Deuten die aktuellen Preisanstiege auf den Immobilienmärkten auf eine Immobilienblase hin? Für Andreas Dombret, Deutsche Bundesbank, gehören Preisblasen an Immobilienmärkten zu den größten Risiken für die Finanzstabilität. Die Folgen derartiger Übertreibungen könnten...

DISCLAIMER: This Staff Discussion Note represents the views of the authors and does not necessarily represent IMF views or IMF policy. The views expressed herein should be attributed to the authors and not to the IMF, its Executive Board, or its management. Staff Discussion Notes are published...

This paper analyzes whether predominantly non-listed corporations in the residential property industry systematically adjust their capital structure to changing financing requirements. Since previous research almost exclusively focused on listed companies, little is known about the...

The sector of Italian real estate asset management companies has shown a high growth in the last decade. This study, through the analysis of a sample representative of more than 80% of the market, shows how this has not yet led to a level of maturity comparable to the rest of Italian asset...

This entry describes housing wealth and the role it plays in household finance.

Multiple testing refers to any instance that involves the simultaneous testing of more than one hypothesis. If decisions about the individual hypotheses are based on the unadjusted marginal p-values, then there is typically a large probability that some of the true null hypotheses will be...

The fully amortized mortgage loan contract is an important instance of financial innovation in the U.S. residential mortgage market. We examine the adoption of this contract from the 1880s to the 1930s by building and loan (B&L) associations, the nation's most important institutional home...

This paper depicts � from a variety of viewpoints � the degree of indebtedness and potential financial vulnerabilities of households across the Italian regions. Micro-data from several sources suggest that the financial situation of Italian households shows striking differences at...