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Household mobility over the Great Recession: evidence from the U.S. 2007-09 Survey of Consumer Finances panel

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This paper uses data from the 2007-09 Survey of Consumer Finances panel to examine U.S. households' decisions to move and the role of negative home equity and economic shocks, such as job loss, in these decisions. Even over this period of steep house price declines and sharp recession, we find that most moves were prompted by standard reasons. The recession's effects are nonetheless apparent in the notable fraction of homeowners who moved involuntarily due to, for example, foreclosure. Many involuntary moves appear to stem a combination of negative home equity and adverse economic shocks rather than negative equity alone. Homeowners with both negative equity and economic shocks were substantially more likely to have moved between 2007 and 2009 and to have moved involuntarily. The findings suggest that, analogous to the double-trigger theory of default, the relationship between negative equity and household mobility varies with households' exposure to adverse shocks.

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  • Jesse Bricker & Brian Bucks, 2013. "Household mobility over the Great Recession: evidence from the U.S. 2007-09 Survey of Consumer Finances panel," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2013-53, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2013-53
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    Cited by:

    1. Bloze, Gintautas & Skak, Morten, 2016. "Housing equity, residential mobility and commuting," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 156-165.
    2. Berger, Lawrence M. & Collins, J. Michael & Smeeding, Timothy M., 2015. "Exiting or retaining owner-occupied housing in the United States 1999–2009: How do social programs matter?," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 112-126.
    3. Chan, Sewin & Haughwout, Andrew & Tracy, Joseph, 2015. "How Mortgage Finance Affects the Urban Landscape," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 987-1045, Elsevier.

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