How Housing Slumps End

Agustín Bénétrix, Barry Eichengreen and Kevin O'Rourke

The Institute for International Integration Studies Discussion Paper Series from IIIS

Abstract: We construct a simple probit model of the determinants of real house price slump endings. We find that the probability of a house price slump ending is higher, the smaller was the pre-slump house price run-up; the greater has been the cumulative house price decline; the lower are real mortgage interest rates; and the higher is GDP growth. Slumps are longer, other things being equal, where housing supply is more elastic, but shorter the more developed are financial institutions. For slumps of a given size, shorter sharper slumps are associated with worse macroeconomic performance in the short run, but with better performance in the long run. This suggests that for sufficiently low discount rates, policy makers should not impede the decline in real house prices, and this conclusion is reinforced by the finding that after a certain duration, house price slumps can become self reinforcing. On the other hand, we also find evidence that during downturns, falling house prices can lead to lower private sector credit flows. Policy makers thus face a delicate balancing act. While they should not intervene to artificially prop up overvalued house prices, they should ensure that their macroeconomic and banking policies are such as to make a bottoming-out more likely. This suggests that they should keep real interest rates low, and ensure that banks are well-capitalised.

Keywords: House prices; Slumps; Probit; VAR (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C41 E32 R30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 51 pages
Date: 2011-10
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Related works:
Journal Article: How housing slumps end (2012)
Working Paper: How Housing Slumps End (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:iis:dispap:iiisdp384

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