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Absolute Income Inequality and Rising House Prices

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  • Thomas Goda
  • Chris Stewart
  • Alejandro Torres García

Abstract

Income inequality and house prices have risen sharply in developed countries during the last three decades. We argue that this co-movement is no coincidence but that inequality has driven up house prices on the grounds that it raises the total demand for houses, which inflates their prices considering supply restrictions. To test this hypothesis, we conduct cointegration tests for a panel of 18 OECD countries for the period 1975-2010. The results suggest that income inequality and house prices in most OECD countries are positively correlated and cointegrated, and that in the majority of cases absolute inequality Granger-causes house prices when measured in absolute terms. Relative inequality, on the other hand, is not cointegrated with house prices, which is expected given that total house demand depends on the absolute amount of investible income.

Suggested Citation

  • Thomas Goda & Chris Stewart & Alejandro Torres García, 2016. "Absolute Income Inequality and Rising House Prices," Documentos de Trabajo de Valor Público 15247, Universidad EAFIT.
    • Handle: RePEc:col:000122:015247
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    Cited by:

    1. Hossein Hassani & Mohammad Reza Yeganegi & Rangan Gupta, 2019. "Does inequality really matter in forecasting real housing returns of the United Kingdom?," International Economics, CEPII research center, issue 159, pages 18-25.
    2. Berisha, Edmond & Meszaros, John & Gupta, Rangan, 2023. "Income inequality and house prices across US states," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 91(C), pages 192-197.
    3. Kyungmin Kim, 2020. "Income inequality and house prices in the United States: A panel VAR analysis," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 40(3), pages 2111-2120.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Personal Income Inequality; Absolute Inequality; House Prices; Asset Price Inflation; Asset Bubbles;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D31 - Microeconomics - - Distribution - - - Personal Income and Wealth Distribution
    • G12 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - Asset Pricing; Trading Volume; Bond Interest Rates
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand

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