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History dependence in the housing market

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  • Bracke, Philippe
  • Tenreyro, Silvana

Abstract

Using data on the universe of housing transactions in England and Wales over a 20-year period, we document that sale prices and selling propensities are affected by house prices prevailing in the period in which properties were previously bought. Using administrative data on mortgages, we show that cognitive frictions explain most of the history dependence in sale prices, whereas credit frictions are more relevant for selling propensities. We corroborate our analysis with data on online house listings, and we estimate the impact of history dependence on the collapse and slow recovery of housing market activity in the postcrisis period. (JEL E32, R21, R31)

Suggested Citation

  • Bracke, Philippe & Tenreyro, Silvana, 2021. "History dependence in the housing market," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 103079, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:lserod:103079
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    Cited by:

    1. Chakraborty, Chiranjit & Joseph, Andreas, 2017. "Machine learning at central banks," Bank of England working papers 674, Bank of England.
    2. Greenaway-McGrevy, Ryan & Sorensen, Kade, 2021. "A Time-Varying Hedonic Approach to quantifying the effects of loss aversion on house prices," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    3. Garbarino, Nicola & Guin, Benjamin & Lee, Jonathan, 2022. "The Effects of Subsidized Flood Insurance on Real Estate Markets," Bank of England working papers 995, Bank of England.
    4. Lamorgese, Andrea R. & Pellegrino, Dario, 2022. "Loss aversion in housing appraisal: Evidence from Italian homeowners," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C).
    5. Badarinza, Cristian & Ramadorai, Tarun & Siljander, Juhana & Tripathy, Jagdish, 2024. "Behavioral lock-in: aggregate implications of reference dependence in the housing market," Bank of England working papers 1054, Bank of England.
    6. Ross, Stephen L. & Zhou, Tingyu, 2024. "Loss aversion and focal point bias: Empirical evidence from housing markets," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Finance, Elsevier, vol. 42(C).
    7. Giacoletti, Marco & Parsons, Christopher A., 2022. "Peak-Bust rental spreads," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(1), pages 504-526.
    8. Coen, Jamie & Kashyap, Anil & Rostom, May, 2021. "Price discrimination and mortgage choice," Bank of England working papers 926, Bank of England.
    9. Badarinza, Cristian & Ramadorai, Tarun & Siljander, Juhana & Tripathy, Jagdish, 2024. "Behavioral Lock-In: Aggregate Implications of Reference Dependence in the Housing Market," CEPR Discussion Papers 19123, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    10. Ling Li & Wayne Xinwei Wan, 2024. "The Effect of Expected Losses on the Hong Kong Property Market," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 68(4), pages 654-683, May.
    11. Edika Quispe-Torreblanca & David Hume & John Gathergood & George Loewenstein & Neil Stewart, 2023. "At the Top of the Mind: Peak Prices and the Disposition Effect," Discussion Papers 2023-09, The Centre for Decision Research and Experimental Economics, School of Economics, University of Nottingham.
    12. Jordan Rappaport, 2023. "Home Prices Are Overvalued but Will Decline Only Gradually," Economic Bulletin, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, issue February , pages 1-4, February.
    13. Zhou, Tingyu & Clapp, John M & Lu-Andrews, Ran, 2021. "Is the behavior of sellers with expected gains and losses relevant to cycles in house prices?," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    housing market; fluctuations; down-payment effects; reference dependence; anchoring; loss aversion;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • R31 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Housing Supply and Markets

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