The paper examines the risk-and-return characteristics of a popular development strategy, the presale system (or sale before completion), used in many Asian cities. We model a presale decision in a real-options framework and suggest that the use of presale is primarily for a risk-sharing...

We analyze the prices of owner-occupied housing in 97 metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2011. Our tests indicate that price changes exhibit positive serial correlation at the one year intervals, with subsequent reversals of price changes over longer intervals. Consistent with our simple model,...

We analyze the prices of owner-occupied housing in 97 metropolitan areas between 1980 and 2011. Our tests indicate that price changes exhibit positive serial correlation at the one year intervals, with subsequent reversals of price changes over longer intervals. Consistent with our simple model,...

Conventional wisdom tells us that the price level of properties should be supported by the rent they receive. This paper examines the pricing factors of properties by analyzing how individuals allocate their income to housing consumption and other goods, which in turn become the rent (or...

In this study we incorporate sticky rents into a real options model to rationalize the widely documented overbuilding puzzle in real estate markets. Given the assumption that developers’ objective function is to maximize total revenue by selecting an optimal occupancy level, our model provides...

This paper builds a model to provide a complementary explanation to the well-known IPO pricing puzzle. Unlike existing theories in the field, our model does not assume that one agent (issuer, underwriter, informed investor, or uninformed investor) has superior information over another, nor that...

This paper develops a stylized model to provide a rational explanation for the boom-and-bust price movement pattern that we frequently observe in the real world. Our stylized model indicates that there are three conditions to form a boom-and-bust price pattern in a community: a move-in of high...

This study updates the issue of arbitrage and joint market efficiency of the Hong Kong derivatives markets from three aspects: (1) put-call-futures parity is tested on a much more recent and larger data set (2002-2004); (2) the period covers several major events that exert remarkable shocks to...

This paper analyzes the risk-taking behavior of financial intuitions that have guarantees and/or institutions that find it beneficial to develop a reputation for not taking risk. It focuses on two questions: Is it rational for them to take on less risk than they can get away with, and if it is...