The household's decision to invest in a home is complicated by the fact that owner-occupied housing plays a dual role as both a physical good generating housing services, and as a component of the wealth portfolio. For many homeowners, housing represents both the largest single element of the monthly expenditure, and the most important asset in the wealth portfolio. Given the availability of re...

This paper concerns the ontology and epistemology of comparative research, which are the foundations of a research strategy. It builds upon a Realist ontology (Bhaskar, 1975, 1979; Sayer, 1984,1985, 2000; Lawson, 1997, 1999) of necessary and contingent relations forming causal mechanisms, in order to extend existing frameworks for explaining difference and change in housing networks. Housing ne...

In the recent recession and current economic recovery, policymakers have supported asset prices in the U.S. treasury and mortgage markets, expecting that improvement in the balance sheet of banks will lead to more commercial lending. In general, we document that increases in housing prices in a bank’s deposit base lead banks to decrease commercial lending. Further, we find that a one-standard d...

This paper studies the interaction between inequality and house prices using an incomplete market heterogeneous agent model. The model links cross-sectional household portfolio saving decisions to housing market outcomes, contributing to the housing literature by illustrating a new price formation mechanism in which the investment motive among the wealthy plays a key role. A quantitative applic...