This paper deals with the macroeconomic effects of government guarantees on debt issued by Government-Sponsored Enterprises. We set up an economy with a housing and mortgage market where the government provides banks with insurance against aggregate shocks to mortgage default risk. We then study...

This paper documents the trends in the life-cycle profiles of net worth and housing equity between 1983 and 2004. The net worth of older households significantly increased during the housing boom of recent years. However, net worth grew by more than housing equity, in part because other assets...

We analyze households' joint investment decisions for financial wealth and homes. We use a bivariate censored regression model with endogenous switching. Fixed costs or transaction costs are captured by an unobserved nonzero censoring threshold. The model allows for spill-over effects of a...

We develop a speculation-based theory of home improvements. Housing services are produced from a mix of land and structures. Homeowners optimistic about future prices for these services speculate by making improvements, which we model as them increasing their structures holding fixed their land....

Using data on household portfolios and mortgage originations, we find that households residing in a city with few publicly traded firms headquartered there are more likely to own an investment home nearby. Households in these areas are also less likely to own stocks. This only-game-in-town...

The accurate estimation of real estate indices is important for many purposes. A common method to estimate these indices is to use a repeatâ€sales procedure. Although this does not require property attributes, this method discards a large amount of sales. This paper proposes a method that can...

The aim of this publication is the analysis of the main theoretical and empirical models for pricing of financial and non financial assets including models for bubbles determining indices and methods which allow identifying a bubble on financial and non financial assets markets well as...

We study the link between homeownership and entrepreneurship using a model of occupational choice and housing tenure where homeowners commit a fixed budget to mortgage payments. Our model predicts that: (i) mortgage commitments, by amplifying risk aversion, diminish the likelihood that...

The aim of this publication is the analysis of the main theoretical and empirical models for pricing of financial and non financial assets including models for bubbles determining indices and methods which allow identifying a bubble on financial and non financial assets markets well as...

We examine the optimal allocation of assets in the portfolio of a Colombian homeowner conditional on various levels of the house value to net wealth ratio. The high rate of home ownership and low rates of investment in financial assets indicate that households allocate most of their wealth to...