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Of House and Home-Related Goods: The Home Purchase Channel of Expenditure

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Abstract

Home-related spending in categories such as furnishings, renovations, and repairs is tied to housing market activity, with significant implications for aggregate expenditure dynamics. We refer to this relationship as the home purchase channel of expenditure. Using household-level panel data we estimate that home purchases lead to sizable increases in home-related spending, but not to increases in goods and services unrelated to home purchase. These findings are robust to the use of close-control groups and placebo tests. We then build a heterogeneous household model with housing, home renovations, and home-related durables that is calibrated to match our household-level evidence. Model simulations of housing market shocks generate large fluctuations in home-related and total expenditure. We show that the home purchase channel amplifies aggregate expenditure dynamics, with home-related spending accounting for around half of total spending fluctuations over the housing cycle.

Suggested Citation

  • Giovanni Favara & James Graham & Geng Li, 2025. "Of House and Home-Related Goods: The Home Purchase Channel of Expenditure," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2025-045, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedgfe:2025-45
    DOI: 10.17016/FEDS.2025.045
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    1. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi, 2009. "The Consequences of Mortgage Credit Expansion: Evidence from the U.S. Mortgage Default Crisis," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 124(4), pages 1449-1496.
    2. Jeppe Druedahl, 2021. "A Guide on Solving Non-convex Consumption-Saving Models," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 58(3), pages 747-775, October.
    3. Greg Kaplan & Kurt Mitman & Giovanni L. Violante, 2020. "The Housing Boom and Bust: Model Meets Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(9), pages 3285-3345.
    4. Efraim Benmelech & Adam Guren & Brian T Melzer & Stijn Van, 2023. "Making the House a Home: The Stimulative Effect of Home Purchases on Consumption and Investment," The Review of Financial Studies, Society for Financial Studies, vol. 36(1), pages 122-154.
    5. Erich Battistin, 2002. "Errors in Survey Reports of Consumption Expenditures," 10th International Conference on Panel Data, Berlin, July 5-6, 2002 C4-2, International Conferences on Panel Data.
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • D12 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Consumer Economics: Empirical Analysis
    • D15 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Intertemporal Household Choice; Life Cycle Models and Saving
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • 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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