I define a composite amenity that provides aesthetic and consumption value to local residents: Urbanity. A novel data set of geo-tagged photos shared in internet communities serves as a proxy for urbanity. From the spatial pattern of house prices and photos I identify the value of urbanity in...

This paper uses the 2011 China Household Finance Survey data to estimate the effect of change in housing value on homeowners' labor force participation. Using the average housing capital gains of other homes in the same community as an instrument for the housing capital gains of a given...

We investigate the determinants of Italian house prices and residential investments in a structural model with possible disequilibria in the market for lending to both households and firms in the building sector. Based on a structural approach that takes into account the multi-fold relationships...

I empirically analyze how changes in access to housing collateral affect homeowner borrowing behavior. To isolate the role of collateral constraints from that of wealth effects, I exploit the fully anticipated expiration of resale price controls on owner-occupied housing in Montgomery County,...

This paper analyzes the existence of 'wealth effects' derived from net equity (in the form of housing, financial assets, and total net worth) on consumption. The study uses longitudinal household-level data -- from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) -- covering about 7,000-9,000...

This paper examines the heterogeneous effects of unconventional monetary pol icy on housing default and foreclosure across subprime and prime regions. Using both daily and monthly data and various identification schemes, we find that expansionary unconventional monetary policy shocks reduce...

Many of the world's major cities have attracted a flurry of out-of-town (OOT) home buyers. Such capital inflows affect house prices, rents, construction, labor income, wealth, and ultimately welfare. We develop an equilibrium model, calibrated to the typical U.S. metropolitan area, to quantify...

This study investigates whether the unprecedented liquidity injected in the economy by the U.S Fed through unconventional monetary policy measure, popularly known as quantitative easing (QE), is a systematic factor that can explain the abnormally low U.S. housing starts of recent years. We use...

This paper presents a selected review of what the literature discusses in terms of modelling and forecasting house prices. In particular, it distils fundamental and “other” determinants of house prices used in economic models and identifies the most commonly used econometric approaches to...