An unusually rich source of data on housing prices in Stockholm is used to analyze the investment implications of housing choices. This empirical analysis derives market-wide price and return series for housing investment during a 13-year period, and it also provides estimates of the individual-specific, idiosyncratic, variation in housing returns. Because the idiosyncratic component follows an autocorrelated process, the analysis of portfolio choice is dependent upon the holding period. We analyze the composition of household investment portfolios containing housing, common stocks, stocks in real estate holding companies, bonds and t-bills. For short holding periods, the efficient portfolio contains essentially no housing. For longer periods, low risk portfolios contain 15 to 50 percent housing. These results suggest that there are large potential gains from policies or institutions that would permit households to hedge their lumpy investments in housing. We estimate the potential value of hedges in reducing risk to households, yet yielding the same investment returns. The value is surprisingly large, especially to poorer homeowners.
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Paper provided by International Center for Financial Asset Management and Engineering in its series FAME Research Paper Series with number
rp26.
Find related papers by JEL classification: G2 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services D6 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics R0 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General
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Khalid Sekkat & Ariane Szafarz, 2009.
"Valuing Homeownership,"
Working Papers CEB
09-006.RS, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Solvay Brussels School of Economics and Management, Centre Emile Bernheim (CEB).
[Downloadable!]
Other versions:
Torfinn Harding, Haakon O. Aa. Solheim og Andreas Benedictow, 2004.
"House ownership and taxes,"
Discussion Papers
395, Research Department of Statistics Norway.
[Downloadable!]