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Homeownership as a Constraint on Asset Allocation

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  • Stephen Cauley
  • Andrey Pavlov
  • Eduardo Schwartz

Abstract

Personal preferences and financial incentives make homeownership desirable for most families. Once a family purchases a home they find it impractical (costly) to frequently change their ownership of residential real estate. Thus, by deciding how much home to buy, a family constrains their ability to adjust their asset allocation between residential real estate and other assets. To analyze the impact of this constraint on consumption, welfare, and post-retirement wealth, we first investigate an individual’s optimal asset allocation decisions when they are subject to a “homeownership constraint.” Next, we perform a “thought experiment” where we assume the existence of a market where a homeowner can sell, without cost, a fractional interest in their home. Now the housing choice decision does not constrain the individual’s asset allocations. By comparing these two cases, we estimate the differences in post-retirement wealth and the welfare gains potentially realizable if asset allocations were not subject to a homeownership constraint. For realistic parameter values, we find that the homeowner would require a substantial increase in total net worth to achieve the same level of utility as would be achievable if the choice of a home could be separated from the asset allocation decision. The robustness of the analysis is evaluated with respect to the model’s parameters and initial state variables. We find that changes in the values of the constraint (i.e., the value of the home) and the expected real rate of home value appreciation are the only state variables or parameter that is associated with a large change in asset allocation and/or the burden imposed by the housing constraint. This finding suggests the importance of a detailed examination of the impact of inter-regional differences in home prices and expected rates of appreciation on asset allocation and post-retirement wealth. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2007

Suggested Citation

  • Stephen Cauley & Andrey Pavlov & Eduardo Schwartz, 2007. "Homeownership as a Constraint on Asset Allocation," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 34(3), pages 283-311, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jrefec:v:34:y:2007:i:3:p:283-311
    DOI: 10.1007/s11146-007-9019-9
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    Cited by:

    1. Geoff Willcocks, 2009. "UK Housing Market: Time Series Processes with Independent and Identically Distributed Residuals," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 39(4), pages 403-414, November.
    2. Otto Van Hemert, 2010. "Household Interest Rate Risk Management," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 38(3), pages 467-505, September.
    3. Jan Rouwendal, 2009. "Housing Wealth and Household Portfolios in an Ageing Society," De Economist, Springer, vol. 157(1), pages 1-48, March.
    4. Caporale, Guglielmo Maria & Sousa, Ricardo M., 2016. "Consumption, wealth, stock and housing returns: Evidence from emerging markets," Research in International Business and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 562-578.
    5. Marekwica, Marcel & Schaefer, Alexander & Sebastian, Steffen, 2013. "Life cycle asset allocation in the presence of housing and tax-deferred investing," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 1110-1125.
    6. Kraft, Holger & Munk, Claus & Wagner, Sebastian, 2015. "Housing habits and their implications for life-cycle consumption and investment," SAFE Working Paper Series 85, Leibniz Institute for Financial Research SAFE, revised 2015.
    7. Andres Jauregui & Alan Tidwell & Diane Hite, 2017. "Sample Selection Approaches to Estimating House Price Cash Differentials," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 54(1), pages 117-137, January.
    8. Masud Alam, 2021. "Time Varying Risk in U.S. Housing Sector and Real Estate Investment Trusts Equity Return," Papers 2107.10455, arXiv.org.
    9. Ling Li, 2016. "Impacts of Homeownership and Residential Stability on Children’s Academic Performance in Hong Kong," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 126(2), pages 595-616, March.
    10. Wolfgang Breuer & Claudia Kreuz, 2011. "Real Estate and Real Estate Finance as a Research Field - An International Overview," ERES eres2011_126, European Real Estate Society (ERES).
    11. Thomas Post & Helmut Gründl & Joan T. Schmit & Anja Zimmer, 2014. "The Impact of Investment Behaviour for Individual Welfare," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 81(321), pages 15-47, January.
    12. Ghysels, Eric & Plazzi, Alberto & Valkanov, Rossen & Torous, Walter, 2013. "Forecasting Real Estate Prices," Handbook of Economic Forecasting, in: G. Elliott & C. Granger & A. Timmermann (ed.), Handbook of Economic Forecasting, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 0, pages 509-580, Elsevier.
    13. Henrik Cronqvist & Florian Münkel & Stephan Siegel, 2014. "Genetics, Homeownership, and Home Location Choice," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 48(1), pages 79-111, January.
    14. E. Beaubrun-Diant, Kevin. & Maury, Tristan-Pierre, 2016. "Home tenure, stock market participation, and composition of the household portfolio," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 1-17.
    15. Eli Beracha & Alexandre Skiba & Ken H Johnson, 2017. "Housing Ownership Decision Making in the Framework of Household Portfolio Choice," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 39(2), pages 263-288.
    16. Daniele Bianchi & Massimo Guidolin, 2014. "Can Linear Predictability Models Time Bull and Bear Real Estate Markets? Out-of-Sample Evidence from REIT Portfolios," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 116-164, July.
    17. Fu-Chuan Lai & Chia-Hung Sun & An-Ming Wang, 2014. "Housing Appreciation (Depreciation) and Owners’ Welfare: An Alternative View," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 51(1), pages 63-74, January.
    18. Marekwica, Marcel & Stamos, Michael Z., 2010. "Optimal life cycle portfolio choice with housing market cycles," CFS Working Paper Series 2010/21, Center for Financial Studies (CFS).
    19. Mao-wei Hung & Leh-chyan So, 2012. "How Much Extra Premium Does a Loss-averse Owner-occupied Home Buyer Pay for His House?," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 45(3), pages 705-722, October.

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