Despite the "interest rate turnaround" initiated by the ECB in the second half of 2022 as a late reaction to the clearly underestimated persistence of high inflation rates in the euro area, real interest rates are by no means to be regarded as restrictive, neither in the ex post nor in the ex...

Housing markets are affected by a large variety of factors. Among them, governmental regulations play an important role. Besides desired effects, all these policies exert a number of side effects, some of which can even offset the desired effects. In addition, different policies can cancel out...

Using a monthly panel dataset of individuals' debt, we show that house price changes can explain a significant fraction of personal debt composition dynamics. We exploit the variation in local house price growth as shocks to homeowners' housing wealth to study the consequential adjustment of...

Housing and mortgage choices are among the largest financial decisions households make and they substantially impact households' liquidity. This paper explores how monetary policy affects aggregate demand by influencing these portfolio choices. To quantify this channel, I build a...

This paper examines the impact of mortgage market structures on shaping economic responses to the unprecedented interest rate and inflation dynamics of 2021-2024. We first empirically document that economies with a larger share of variable-rate mortgages exhibit stronger responses in house...

The study examines housing affordability in Germany from 2017 to 2023 in light of rising real estate prices and challenges in the housing market. It uses the Housing Affordability Index to identify trends and patterns and propose policy measures to tackle the problems. The results show regional...

The development of home ownership in the second half of the 20th century has been perceived as an asset and a significant contributor to wealth accumulation. However, rising property prices and increasingly stringent mortgage lending criteria have placed this model under pressure, particularly...

This paper examines the impact of mortgage market structures on shaping economic responses to the unprecedented interest rate and inflation dynamics of 2021-2024. We first empirically document that economies with a larger share of variable-rate mortgages exhibit stronger responses in house...

Die letzten Jahre waren äußerst turbulent und stellten auch einen Stresstest für die Immobilienfinanzierung dar. In dem vorliegenden Beitrag ist dabei die Entwicklung in Deutschland international eingeordnet worden. Darüber hinaus ist eine zentrale Voraussetzung für Festzinssysteme - die...

This Technical Report documents the construction and coverage of the IWH European Real Estate Index (EREI). Since 2018, we have used machine-learning methods to collect monthly listings of residential real estate available for sale or rent in up to 20 European countries. The Technical Report...

We empirically document deviations of residential real estate prices from fundamental values at the micro level and investigate their relationship with local bank lending growth during a period of unconventional monetary policy. Our findings indicate a positive relationship between credit growth...

Almost half of mortgage lending to homeowners in Denmark consists of 30-year fixed-rate loans. The loans are callable, so homeowners can redeem their loan and take out a new one if, for example, they want to refinance at a lower rate if interest rates fall. We calculate a financial incentive for...

Between 1950 and 2023, the housing cost burden - approximated by the proportion of total household consumption expenditure spent on housing, water, electricity and fuel - has risen almost steadily in many countries around the world. First, this trend can be explained by substantial improvements...

Macroprudential policies are a key policy tool for financial regulators, but concerns persist that these policies restrict access to homeownership. I examine this concern using crosscountry data on homeownership for 28 countries. I find little evidence that macroprudential policies reduce...

We study whether and how EU banks comply with tighter macroprudential policy (MPP). Observing contractual details for more than one million securitized loans, we document an elusive risk-shifting response by EU banks in reaction to tighter loan-to-value (LTV) restrictions between 2009 and 2022....

We study how rent control and housing rationing shape housing investment and market tightness in Geneva using a VAR on annual data (1994-2022) with generalized impulse responses and Granger causality. We find that housing rationing functions as abinding quantity restriction as it precedes a...

Housing research is one of the hot topics in many countries. This paper provides a quick review of the housing economics research in the US, Sweden, Latvia, China, Corsica, and Italy published in this special issue. Bao and Shah studied the effects of home-sharing platforms in general and the...

Despite the "interest rate turnaround" initiated by the ECB in the second half of 2022 as a late reaction to the clearly underestimated persistence of high inflation rates in the euro area, real interest rates are by no means to be regarded as restrictive, neither in the ex post nor in the ex...

During the last decade, property prices in Germany steadily appreciated and reached an all-time high in 2022. In the wake of the global financial crisis that was triggered by a housing market bubble in the U.S., banking authorities introduced an additional systemic risk buffer. This buffer aims...

It is crucial to better understand the U.S. residential mortgage market, where the global financial crisis originated. In this paper, we develop an infinite-horizon continuous-time structural model to study the effects of the long- standing and widespread Government-Sponsored Enterprises (GSEs)...

Over the past several decades, real estate project financing (PF) has repeatedly triggered economic disturbances in Korea, with no fundamental remedies in sight until now. Project sponsors are at the heart of this issue, investing minimal equity while heavily relying on guarantees from third...