Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/125080 
Year of Publication: 
2015
Series/Report no.: 
Tinbergen Institute Discussion Paper No. 15-079/IV
Publisher: 
Tinbergen Institute, Amsterdam and Rotterdam
Abstract: 
We explore how house prices evolve under technological progress, when housing serves for consumption as well as store of value. Technological change leads to human capital substituting physical capital and manual labor. Reduced use of physical capital implies that firms have less tangible collateral to pledge for external finance. This results in lower business demand for credit and a decline in interest rates. Over time, savings are redirected to mortgage credit, where houses serve as collateral. Under fixed land supply, house prices rise in real terms. The combination of growing wage inequality and mortgage credit leads to high household leverage for low-skill workers, increasing default rates and foreclosures. Restraining mortgage borrowing is more effective than subsidies to limit mortgage defaults, by containing both leverage and house price appreciation. It also leads to lower interest rates, supporting more corporate investment and higher wages.
Subjects: 
Inequality
mortgage credit
housing
human capital
skill-biased technological change
JEL: 
D33
E22
E44
R21
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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