Re-thinking Housing Markets

Rabah Arezki and I are among the co-editors of a special issue of the Journal of Money Credit & Banking on housing markets that was just published. It has an interesting set of policy papers by experts (Ed Leamer, Susan Wachter, Stijn Claessens, David Miles, Dwight Jaffee, Allan Crawford, John Muellbauer, Philipp Hartmann) and eight academic papers with comments from discussants—including Ed Leamer’s lightly-censored views on various things (including DSGE models). Here for example is Ed on who was to blame for the housing crisis:

“[here’s] my list of culprits who might be to blame for getting so many Americans to buy homes they could not afford at prices that were unsustainable: (i) the Greenspan Fed, (ii) the rating agencies, (iii) the securitizers, (iv) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, (v) the mortgage originators, and (vi) Chinese savers. Greenspan has often provided a shorter list: (i) Chinese savers.”

Policy Papers:

On housing & the macroeconomy:

Ed Leamer: “The downturn of 2008–09 has confirmed that: (i) housing is the single most critical part of the U.S. business cycle, (ii) the proper conduct of monetary policy needs to be cognizant that choices made at one point in time affect the options later, and (iii) the best time to intervene in the housing cycle is when the volume of building is above normal and growing more so.”

John Muellbauer: “Three themes connecting housing and the macroeconomy are discussed. First, evidence is presented for the property market as one of the drivers of U.S. consumer price inflation. Second, key drivers of house prices are explained to account for the remarkable diversity of international experience. Finally, three potential links between housing, credit, and the financial accelerator are discussed. These are the consumption channel, the investment channel, and feedback between bad loans and risk-spreads via the financial system—and how institutional differences between countries can explain the presence, absence and magnitudes of these linkages.”

Stijn Claessens: [The paper discusses] “(i) house prices cycles and the macroeconomy, (ii) the current state of housing markets, and (iii) what to do about housing bubbles.”

On U.S. vs. Europe; why Canada has avoided a crisis; macropru and beyond:

Susan Wachter: “A house price boom occurred simultaneously in the United States and in a number of European countries from 2003 to 2007, accompanied in each case by an expansion in housing finance. This article considers the role of financial innovation along with incomplete markets in these cycles.”

Dwight Jaffee: “The United States and certain European countries (e.g., Ireland and Spain) have recently experienced serious distress in their residential mortgage markets. Public policy has responded with interventions to limit the deadweight costs of mortgage foreclosures, but with limited success. There are also open questions with respect to long-term reforms in mortgage market structures. In this paper, I make use of the important differences that exist between U.S. and European mortgage markets to help identify those aspects of residential mortgage markets that are most in need of reform.”

Philipp Hartmann: “An increasing number of studies suggest that borrower-based regulatory policies, such as reductions in loan-to-value or debt-to-income limits, can be effective in leaning against real estate booms. But many of the new macroprudential policy authorities in Europe do not have clear powers to determine them. Moreover, the cross-border spillovers they may give rise to suggest the establishment of a well-defined macroprudential coordination mechanism for the single European market.”

Allan Crawford: “This article discusses elements of Canada’s policy framework that contributed to the relatively good performance of its mortgage market in recent years, including supervisory practices and mortgage underwriting standards. Lender recourse and the nondeductibility of mortgage interest payments played a complementary role. Ongoing policy challenges are also identified, including the need for monitoring to ensure the current prolonged period of low interest rates does not lead to levels of debt and house prices that create future instability in housing and mortgage markets.”

David Miles: [The paper explores] “ways in which volatility in the housing market … can be reduced. Alternatives to standard debt contracts to finance house purchase are considered. A form of equity loan, where repayments are linked to the value of the house, have major advantages in terms of risk reduction. The way in which such loans can be structured is analyzed.”

There are also eight academic papers plus comments from discussants. The editors offer an executive summary of these papers.


Arezki et al: “This article provides an introduction to the JMCB special issue on housing bubbles, the global financial crisis, and the ensuing recessions in countries that experienced housing busts. We focus on five themes that are important for policymakers and researchers alike: the domestic and international factors driving housing booms and busts, the relevance of the housing sector for the real economy, how monetary policy should react to housing booms and busts, how housing and mortgage finance reform could affect financial stability, and the broad lessons learned for macroeconomics and macroprudential policy.”

Link to special issue of JMCB on housing: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jmcb.2015.47.issue-S1/issuetoc 


The issue was based on the proceedings of a conference, the first of three conferences that were organized as part of the Global Housing Watch initiative under IMF Deputy Managing Director Zhu. Ungated versions of the conference papers and some of the panel discussions, plus a keynote address by Bob Shiller, are available here: http://www.dallasfed.org/research/events/2013/13housing.cfm

Posted by at 6:22 PM

Labels: Global Housing Watch

Home

Subscribe to: Posts