Who Invests in Home Equity to Exempt Wealth from Bankruptcy?
S. Corradin, Reint E. Gropp, H. Huizinga, Luc Laeven
Abstract
Homestead exemptions to personal bankruptcy allow households to retain their home equity up to a limit determined at the state level. Households that may experience bankruptcy thus have an incentive to bias their portfolios towards home equity. Using US household data for the period 1996 to 2006, we find that household demand for real estate is relatively high if the marginal investment in home equity is covered by the exemption. The home equity bias is more pronounced for younger households that face more financial uncertainty and therefore have a higher ex ante probability of bankruptcy.
Artikel Lesen
Efficiency in the UK Commercial Property Market: A Long-run Perspective
Steven Devaney, Oliver Holtemöller, R. Schulz
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 15,
2012
Abstract
Informationally efficient prices are a necessary requirement for optimal resource allocation in the real estate market. Prices are informationally efficient if they reflect buildings’ benefit to marginal buyers, thereby taking account of all available information on future market development. Prices that do not reflect available information may lead to over- or undersupply if developers react to these inefficient prices. In this study, we examine the efficiency of the UK commercial property market and the interaction between prices, construction costs, and new supply. We collated a unique data set covering the years 1920 onwards, which we employ in our study. First, we assess if real estate prices were in accordance with present values, thereby testing for informational efficiency. By comparing prices and estimated present values, we can measure informational inefficiency. Second, we assess if developers reacted correctly to price signals. Development (or the lack thereof) should be triggered by deviations between present values and cost; if prices do not reflect present values, then they should have no impact on development decisions.
Artikel Lesen
Real Estate Prices and Bank Stability
Michael Koetter, Tigran Poghosyan
Journal of Banking and Finance,
Nr. 34,
2010
Abstract
Real estate prices can deviate from their fundamental value due to rigid supply, heterogeneity in quality, and various market imperfections, which have two contrasting effects on bank stability. Higher prices increase the value of collateral and net wealth of borrowers and thus reduce the likelihood of credit defaults. In contrast, persistent deviations from fundamentals may foster the adverse selection of increasingly risky creditors by banks seeking to expand their loan portfolios, which increases bank distress probabilities. We test these hypotheses using unique data on real estate markets and banks in Germany. House price deviations contribute to bank instability, but nominal house price developments do not. This finding corroborates the importance of deviations from the fundamental value of real estate, rather than just price levels or changes alone, when assessing bank stability.
Artikel Lesen
Keeping the Bubble Alive! The Effects of Urban Renewal and Demolition Subsidies in the East German Housing Market
Dominik Weiß
IWH Discussion Papers,
Nr. 11,
2009
Abstract
German urban renewal programs are favoring the cities in the Eastern part since the re-unification in 1990. This was accompanied additionally by attractive tax incentives, designed as an accelerated declining balance method of depreciation for housing investments during the late 1990s. The accumulated needs for comfortable housing after 40 years of a disastrous housing policy of the GDR era were generally accepted as justification for the subvention policy. But various subsidies and tax incentives caused a construction boom, false allocations, and a price bubble in Eastern Germany. After recognizing that the expansion of housing supply was not in line with the demographic development and that high vacancy rates were jeopardizing housing companies and their financial backers, policy changed in 2001. Up to now, the government provides demolition grants to reduce the vast oversupply. By means of a real option approach, it is ex-plained how different available forms of subsidies and economic incentives for landlords lift real estate values. The option value representing growth expectations and opportunities is calculated as an observable market value less an estimated fundamental value. Empirical results disclose higher option premiums for cities in Eastern Germany and a strong correlation of the option premium with urban renewal spending.
Artikel Lesen
Editorial
Ulrich Blum
Wirtschaft im Wandel,
Nr. 4,
2009
Abstract
Hat der Staat mit dem „Enteignungsgesetz“ den Rubikon überschritten? „Alea iacta est“, die Würfel sind geworfen – noch nicht gefallen, man kann noch zurück. Aber auch Cäsar kehrte nicht um, er stellte die Systemfrage! Es gab frühzeitig eine Vielzahl ordnungsökonomisch verträglicher Vorschläge, beispielsweise einer „chirurgischen Abspaltung mit strategischer Insolvenz“ aus dem IWH, wie das Problem Hypo Real Estate (HRE) bewältigt werden könnte, die auch in Berlin weiterentwickelt wurden. Aber die drastische Sicht der Dinge hat sich durchgesetzt. Wichtigste gegenwärtige Aufgabe wird es sein, künftige Übertreibungen beim Eingriff in die Marktkräfte – der Staat kann und darf alles – einzudämmen. Denn die Herausforderungen werden noch wachsen: Bleibt die bisherige Geldpolitik weitgehend unwirksam, dann wird sich die Frage nach dem Einsatz unkonventioneller Instrumente stellen, die im angelsächsischen Bereich bereits genutzt werden. Falls Staaten in Schieflage gerieten, müssten Summen bewegt werden, die ein Mehrfaches der Anstrengung zur Rettung der HRE betragen.
Artikel Lesen
