We use Google search query data to develop a broad-based and real-time index of mortgage default risk. Unlike established indicators, our Mortgage Default Risk Index (MDRI) directly reflects households' concerns regarding their risk of mortgage default. The MDRI predicts housing returns,...

Over the years 2000 to 2013, the Los Angeles real estate market featured a boom, a bust, and then another boom. We use this variation to test how the hedonic valuation of school quality varies over the business cycle. Following Black (1999), we exploit a regression discontinuity design at...

We introduce a new measure of housing affordability that adjusts for normative variation in housing consumption. The new measure is computed using extensive micro-data from Israel for the 1998–2015 period. Findings suggest sharp declines in Israel quality- and consumption-adjusted...

This research applies data from a unique natural policy experiment to assess the effects of heuristics on housing decisions and public policy outcomes. The data derive from programs designed to privatize public housing in Israel. The programs provided tenants with a call (real) option to...

We investigate the impact of Great Recession policies in California that substantially increased lender pecuniary and time costs of foreclosure. We estimate that the California Foreclosure Prevention Laws (CFPLs) prevented 250,000 California foreclosures (a 20% reduction) and created $300...

We document changes in borrowers' sensitivity to negative equity and show heightened borrower default propensity as a fundamental driver of crisis period mortgage defaults. Estimates of a time-varying coefficient competing risk hazard model reveal a marked run-up in the default option beta from...