Reassessing the magnitude of housing price declines and the use of leverage in the Depressions of the 1890s and 1930s

Jonathan Rose

Real Estate Economics, 2022, vol. 50, issue 4, 907-930

Abstract: This paper presents the first repeat sales index for residential housing in any U.S. city spanning the late 19th and early 20th centuries, covering Baltimore from 1880 to 1953. Compared to previous data, the index shows larger declines in housing prices during the Depressions of the 1890s and 1930s. I also find higher leverage entering into those periods than previously understood. I conclude that negative equity in the 1930s was a bigger problem than implied by existing data, rationalizing the extent of foreclosures that occurred.

Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://doi.org/10.1111/1540-6229.12350

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:reesec:v:50:y:2022:i:4:p:907-930

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.blackwell ... bs.asp?ref=1080-8620

Access Statistics for this article

Real Estate Economics is currently edited by Crocker Liu, N. Edward Coulson and Walter Torous

More articles in Real Estate Economics from American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Wiley Content Delivery ().