In this article, John Duca finds that the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) index of home mortgage applications can help forecast home sales. Alone, the index is a good, albeit imperfect, predictor of total home sales. But when included along with housing affordability and real, after-tax...

Spain’s housing boom was supported by rapid economic expansion, strong employment growth, an immigration boom, and low real interest rates. With the abrupt drying up of funding since mid-2007, these factors have eroded quickly. Through 2010, employment and value added in construction are...

This Selected Issues paper on Canada examines economic development and policies. Capital ratios before the crisis have been a key determinant of bank performance during the turmoil; and Canadian banks had ample capital. Specifically, most banks with critically low capital at end-2006 later...

Home foreclosure rates have risen in the United States to the highest levels since the Great Depression. With house prices falling, lending standards tightening, unemployment rising, and interest rate resets in the pipeline, foreclosures are projected to go even higher. While most of the time a...

This paper explores preferences and choices in the real estate market from a personality perspective. First, we employ micro-level data on individual scores on the Big Five personality test and personal financial real estate preferences to evaluate the role of personality in individual real...

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...