In this paper we examine the role of mortgage equity withdrawal in explaining the decline of the US saving rate, since when house prices rise and mortgage rates are low, homeowners have an incentive to withdraw housing equity and this may affect the saving rate. We estimate a Vector Error...

In this paper we examine the role of mortgage equity withdrawal in explaining the decline of the US saving rate, since when house prices rise and mortgage rates are low, homeowners have an incentive to withdraw housing equity and this may affect the saving rate. We estimate a Vector Error...

This paper seeks to explore how the relationships among interest rates, user cost of capital and housing price dynamics vary across countries with different mortgage financing arrangements and housing supply systems. The paper starts with a survey of the theoretical and empirical literature on...