Several central banks have leaned against the wind in the housing market by increasing the policy rate preemptively to prevent a bubble. Yet the empirical literature provides mixed results on the impact of short-term interest rates on house prices: the estimated semi-elasticities range from $$-12$$ - 12 to positive values. To assign a pattern to these differences, we collect 1,555 estimates from 37 individual studies that cover 45 countries and 72 years. We then relate the estimates to 39 characteristics of the financial system, business cycle, and estimation approach. Our main results are threefold. First, the mean reported estimate is exaggerated by publication bias, because insignificant results are underreported. Second, inclusion of controls correlated with policy rates (credit or money supply) decreases the estimated effects of policy rates on house prices. Third, the effects are stronger in countries with more developed mortgage markets and generally later in the cycle when the yield curve is flat and house prices enter an upward spiral.

The focus of this research paper is on the debt ownership choice of UK property companies. The data show that bank borrowings constitute more than half of the total outstanding debt of the quoted property sector, testifying to the widespread use of bank debt among property companies. We carried out four censored regressions to identify key factors influencing the firms’ decision to use bank loans instead of other types of debt. The results reveal that firm size and credit risk are significant determinants of the bank debt ratio of property companies. We also observe that institutional ownership has a strong positive effect on bank debt reliance. This finding suggests that institutional investors in property companies delegate the monitoring of the firm’s actions to the banks. We also find a weakly positive relationship between interest rate and bank debt ratio. The regression results further suggest that property market cycle, volatility of interest rates, and the firm’s leverage, growth opportunity, trading activities and age do not have any significant effect on the debt ownership choice.

There is causal evidence that mortgage credit expansions increase house prices. Does an expansion of margin lending increase stock prices? Because unconstrained arbitrageurs are more important for pricing stocks than homes, the impact is not obvious. Tests are limited because sizable shocks to margin lending are rare. We examine a major Chinese margin-lending expansion between 2010 and 2015. Institutional holding, regression discontinuity, and event study evidence—exploiting the rollout of margin lending across stocks—shows that arbitrageurs anticipated and bought in advance of a significant causal effect of credit. We develop a model to rationalize our findings. Our estimates suggest that margin debt contributes to stock market fluctuations. (JEL G01, G11, G12, G18)

Real estate majorly contributes to the national gross domestic product (GDP) growth, occupying an important position in the national economy. It is the largest fixed asset for households. The real estate market is associated with a wide range of economic aspects with more upstream and downstream enterprises. Simultaneously, the factors affecting the real estate market are complex and variable. Fluctuations in the real estate market affect the entire economic system. This requires the government to formulate relevant housing policies to stabilize the operation of the real estate market. Therefore, it is meaningful to study the impact of housing policies on the real estate market and provide reasonable opinions for the housing sector in formulating policies. This study adopts a systematic quantitative literature review to examine the impact of housing policies on the real estate market. This study finds that housing policies affecting the real estate market can be divided into the following three categories: monetary, tax, and macro-prudential policies. Changes in supply and demand in the real estate market primarily reflect the effectiveness of policies, with housing price factors as the transmission mechanism. Furthermore, the influence of housing policies from different countries and regions on real estate market factors is compared to provide a reference for scholars to pursue further study.

Income and wealth inequality have been a persistent and growing problem in the state of California over the last 40 years. This report focuses on the role of economic recessions—primarily the 2008 Great Recession and the 2020 COVID-19 Recession—on income and wealth inequality with particular attention to their impacts on housing access and affordability. By reviewing the literature, this report outlines the relationship between economic recessions and inequality, how the unique characteristics of economic recessions lead to disparate impacts, and the particular impact of economic recessions on housing access and affordability. Through a literature review, this report also provides a discussion and assessment of federal and state policies designed to address the impact of economic recessions. It concludes by presenting empirical findings from original research that demonstrate the unique impact of economic recessions on housing access and affordability in California and Los Angeles.

"We hypothesize that the intrinsic benefit required to trigger a refinancing has become smaller due to a combination of technological, regulatory, and structural changes that have made mortgage origination more competitive and more efficient. To test this hypothesis, we estimate an empirical hazard model of loan survival for two subperiods, using a database that allows us to carefully control for homeowners' credit ratings, equity, loan size, and measurable transaction costs. Our findings strongly confirm that credit ratings and home equity have significant effects on the refinancing probabili

2008. In 2008, the average home prices were much lower than in 2021 and the interest rates were 5 points higher than the Bank of Canada's 2021 rate, which In Canada, affordable housing refers to living spaces that are financially accessible to people with a median household income. Canada ranks among the lowest of the most developed countries for housing affordability. Housing affordability is generally measured based on a shelter-cost-to-income ratio (STIR) of 30% by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the national housing agency of Vancouver had the least affordable housing market in Canada by 1980; the average home cost 5.7 times the average family income. O' Toole calculated that given the high interest rates in 1980, "an average family would have to devote more than 70 percent of its income to pay off a mortgage on an average home in 30 years." According to a report in The Economist, a factor contributing to Vancouver's high property prices may be Canadian laws which enable foreigners to buy Canadian property—possibly for purposes of tax evasion or money laundering—while shielding their identities from tax authorities, a practice which is known as snow washing. The governor of the Bank of Canada noted that affordability of housing has been eroded as wealthy Asian investors seeking diversification and hard assets purchase housing in Vancouver. Consequently, "[t]he average selling price of a home in Vancouver is now nearly 11 times the average Vancouver family's household income, a multiple similar to those seen in Hong Kong and Sydney—cities that have also become part of a more globalized real estate market." There has been a move toward the integration of affordable social housing with market housing and other uses, such as the 2006–2010 redevelopment of the Woodward's building site in Vancouver. Woodward, a heritage site, was re-invented and has reinvigorated Gastown in Downtown Eastside, one of Vancouver's oldest and "most challenged" yet "resilient" communities. The project has also been said to contribute to Vancouver being an inclusive city. Randal O'Toole of the Fraser Institute in his report entitled "Unliveable Strategies: The Greater Vancouver Regional District and the Liveable Region Strategic Plan" (2011) argued that the GVRD urban planners focused too much on housing affordability as a lack of affordable housing for low-income families who would need some form of housing subsidy. He noted that GVRD reports failed to mention that there was also a lack of affordable housing for people with middle incomes. O'Toole said that the GVRD's land use planners "left the region with the least affordable housing and some of the worst traffic congestion in Canada". He concluded that…