High and rising prices in Chinese housing markets have attracted global attention, as well as the interest of the Chinese government and its regulators. Housing markets look very risky based on the stylized facts we document. Price-to-rent ratios in Beijing and seven other large markets across...

We provide the first multi-city, constant quality land price index for 35 major markets in China. While there is meaningful heterogeneity in land price growth across cities, on average the last nine years have seen land values skyrocket in many markets, not just those on or near the coast. The...

This study recognizes that commercial mortgage default is not a one-step process and examines a previously under explored aspect in the whole default process, that is the stage between the initial delinquency and default. We distinguish the servicers' behavior from the borrowers' behavior. A...

Previous research on the United States and Japan finds economically large impacts of changing real estate collateral value on firm investment. Working with unique data on land values in 35 major Chinese markets and a panel of firms outside the real estate industry, we estimate investment...

China's record-breaking economic growth is evoking increasing concern about unaddressed environmental problems. We show that, while city government spending on environmental infrastructure has a demonstrably positive environmental impact, city spending is nonetheless strongly tilted towards...

Based on the quarterly actual rental income of over 9,000 NCREIF commercial properties during 2001Q2-2010Q2, we construct a commercial real estate rental index using a dynamic panel data model. The rental index we construct captures the market-wide fluctuations in rental income, and our model...

This paper studies a largely overlooked and important segment of the mortgage market in explaining the recent financial crisis — the condominium loan market, which experienced a 15-fold increase in origination and constituted 15% of the overall residential loan originations from 2001 to 2007....

China's recent monetary stimulation has substantially boosted economic. We argue that its efficacy derives from state control over its banking and corporate sectors. Beijing ordered state-owned banks to lend, and they lent. Beijing ordered centrally-controlled state-owned enterprises (SOEs) to...

We expand on the standard commercial mortgage default model and create a new model by looking beyond the usual factors of option value, insolvency, property type, region, originator type, state foreclosure laws and macroeconomic measures. The new model incorporates measures of local economic...