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Household Leverage

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  • European Central Bank
  • Stefano Corradin

Abstract

I propose a life-cycle model where a finitely lived risk averse agent finances her housing investment choosing to provide a down payment. After signing the mortgage contract, the agent may strategically default and move into the rental market. Risk neutral lenders efficiently price mortgages charging a default premium to compensate themselves for expected losses due to default on a mortgage. As a result, mortgage value and amount of leverage are closely linked. An alternative is for the agent to rent the same house, paying a rent fully adjustable to house prices. The rent risk premium is set such that the agent is indifferent ex ante between owning with a mortgage and renting. Three main results arise. First, the optimal down payment and the house price volatility are positively related. The higher the house price volatility, the higher the down payment the agent provides to decrease the volatility of the equity share in the house. Second, in the presence of borrowing constraints, a higher risk of unemployment persistence and/or a substantial drop in labor income decreases the leveraged position the agent takes. Third, ruling out the effect of taking costly leverage on owning a house significantly biases the results in favor of owning over renting. JEL Classification: G21, E21
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Suggested Citation

  • European Central Bank & Stefano Corradin, 2009. "Household Leverage," 2009 Meeting Papers 906, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed009:906
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. John Y. Campbell & João F. Cocco, 2015. "A Model of Mortgage Default," Journal of Finance, American Finance Association, vol. 70(4), pages 1495-1554, August.
    2. Yang, Xintong & Gan, Li, 2020. "Bequest motive, household portfolio choice, and wealth inequality in urban China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    3. Jansson, Thomas, 2017. "Housing choices and labor income risk," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 107-119.
    4. Philipp Hartmann, 2015. "Real Estate Markets and Macroprudential Policy in Europe," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 47(S1), pages 69-80, March.
    5. Thomas Schelkle, 2018. "Mortgage Default during the U.S. Mortgage Crisis," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 50(6), pages 1101-1137, September.
    6. Christopher L. Foote & Lara Loewenstein & Paul S. Willen, 2018. "Technological Innovation in Mortgage Underwriting and the Growth in Credit: 1985-2015," Working Papers (Old Series) 1816, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland.
    7. Mavropoulos, Antonios & Xiong, Qizhou, 2019. "Housing consumption and macroprudential policies in Europe: An ex ante evaluation," IWH Discussion Papers 17/2018, Halle Institute for Economic Research (IWH), revised 2019.
    8. Loutskina, Elena & Strahan, Philip E., 2015. "Financial integration, housing, and economic volatility," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(1), pages 25-41.
    9. Sheridan Titman & Ko Wang & Jing Yang, 2014. "The Dynamics of Housing Prices," NBER Working Papers 20418, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth

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