Halle Institute for Economic Research
5th Finance and Productivity (FINPRO) Conference, Tokyo FINPRO5, co-organised by the IMF, the University of Tokyo (CARF), IWH-CompNet, the University of Amsterdam and CEPR, will…
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Do Euro Area Banks Adjust Their Foreign Real Estate Backed Lending in a Low Interest Rate Environment?
Kirsten Schmidt, Lena Tonzer
SUERF Policy Brief,
February
2025
Abstract
Banks have been operating in a low interest rate environment paired with booming housing markets. For the largest banks in the euro area and the period 2015-2022, we assess whether banks reallocate their foreign loan portfolio backed by real estate as a response to differences in local lending spreads across the home and destination country and conditional on reduced information frictions due to borrowing-country exposures. The main result is that the relative share of foreign real estate backed lending increases in case of return opportunities, and this sensitivity depends on local exposures towards the borrowing country. The result is driven by subsamples for which neither the home nor the borrowing country have implemented macroprudential regulation targeting real estate lending, or for which there is a misalignment in macroprudential policies. Nevertheless, we find limited evidence that the riskiness of real estate backed loans goes up during our sample period, and we discuss potential reasons for this result including the possibility of hidden losses.
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Research Clusters
Three Research Clusters Each IWH research group is assigned to a topic-oriented research cluster. The clusters are not separate organisational units, but rather bundle the…
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Alumni
IWH Alumni The IWH maintains contact with its former employees worldwide. We involve our alumni in our work and keep them informed, for example, with a newsletter. We also plan…
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Gender Equality & Anti-Discrimination
Equal Opportunities at IWH IWH commits to actively promoting equal opportunities for men and women, going beyond already existing guidelines. In 2013, 2016, 2019, 2022 and again…
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Vocational Training
Vocational Training at IWH At the Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH) the state-approved professions specialist in media and information services (m/f/x) [library] ,…
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Department Profiles
Research Profiles of the IWH Departments All doctoral students are allocated to one of the four research departments (Financial Markets – Laws, Regulations and Factor Markets –…
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Past Events
Past Events 14. CompNet Annual Conference (Vilnius, 25-26 September 2025) The 14th CompNet Annual Conference, co-hosted with the Bank of Lithuania, took place on 25–26 September…
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CompNet & ECB Annual Conference
CompNet & ECB Annual Conference On 22 September 2020, a short online event took place. Please find all material below to be downloaded from the online conference. The coronavirus…
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Conference on innovation and productivity in the aftermath of the pandemic
Conference on innovation and productivity in the aftermath of the pandemic Asian Development Bank Institute, Tokyo-Japan 15. November 2022 In the last few years, the ADBI has…
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