The demand for investment for any asset including houses and apartments depends on a relative yield-price ratio. In an equilibrium structure, the yield-price ratio is shown to depend explicitly on interest rates, capital gains and the loan-to-value ratio. For U.S. quarterly data from 1986 to...

With property characteristics unobserved or difficult to measure, there are returns to evaluation, due diligence and performance. Buyers can invest in observable human capital signals including location and experience that lower search costs. Buyers with local experience have lower search costs,...

Underlying idiosyncratic and illiquidity risks are suppressed in infrequently reported indexes of house prices and rents. Idiosyncratic risks result from bid-ask spreads for prices and rents. Time series autocovariances generate a distribution of prices and rents. Capital gains and rent-price...

Real estate agents have flexibility in choosing hours and employers. These responses are tested with a five-equation recursive model. Agents choose between full- and part-time work. The conditional wage measures productivity adjusted for self-selection to each status. Hours worked in each status...

This article develops a model of asset allocation relevant for the representative consumer. Consumption is composed of two items: housing, and other goods and services. The representative household's balance sheet consists largely of a house and a mortgage. Its income statement is dominated by...