The aim of this paper is to review the international evidence on the impacts of mortgage interest deductions on homeownership rates. The probability of becoming a homeowner is a function of the relative cost of owning and renting, borrowing constraints, permanent household income, and a set of...

Households can borrow against equity through different channels, including home equity lines of credit (HELOCs), second liens, cash-out refinancing, and for senior homeowners, reverse mortgages. We use data from the New York Federal Reserve/Equifax Consumer Credit Panel, the U.S. Department of...

Reverse mortgages have been obtained by nearly one million senior households. In the future, the number of eligible households will grow substantially, about 80 percent are homeowners, and many of them have substantial equity in their home. We study state-level variations in rate of originations...