IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ecorec/v84y2008i267p421-433.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Factors Influencing Housing Equity Withdrawal: Evidence from a Microeconomic Survey

Author

Listed:
  • CARL SCHWARTZ
  • CHRISTINE LEWIS
  • DAVID NORMAN
  • TIM HAMPTON

Abstract

The increase in housing equity withdrawal and coincident decline in aggregate savings rates in a number of countries in recent years is consistent with the consumption‐smoothing model of housing equity withdrawal. However, there are a variety of other theoretical models that purport to explain why households withdraw and inject equity. To assess the relative importance of these various theories, we use a comprehensive survey of the equity withdrawal and injection decisions of Australian households. We find support for several theories. Life cycle considerations appear to be most important, with older households accounting for the bulk of equity withdrawn. Portfolio rebalancing considerations also appear important, with financial asset accumulation the primary use of withdrawn funds. Consumption‐smoothing motives play an influential role, although primarily for smaller‐value transactions.

Suggested Citation

  • Carl Schwartz & Christine Lewis & David Norman & Tim Hampton, 2008. "Factors Influencing Housing Equity Withdrawal: Evidence from a Microeconomic Survey," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 84(267), pages 421-433, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:84:y:2008:i:267:p:421-433
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1475-4932.2008.00508.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2008.00508.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2008.00508.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Case Karl E. & Quigley John M. & Shiller Robert J., 2005. "Comparing Wealth Effects: The Stock Market versus the Housing Market," The B.E. Journal of Macroeconomics, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-34, May.
    2. Nikola Dvornak & Marion Kohler, 2007. "Housing Wealth, Stock Market Wealth and Consumption: A Panel Analysis for Australia," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 83(261), pages 117-130, June.
    3. Cramer, J. S. & Ridder, G., 1991. "Pooling states in the multinomial logit model," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 47(2-3), pages 267-272, February.
    4. Glenn B. Canner & Karen E. Dynan & Wayne Passmore, 2002. "Mortgage refinancing in 2001 and early 2002," Federal Reserve Bulletin, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.), vol. 88(Dec), pages 469-481, December.
    5. James Banks & Richard Blundell & James P. Smith, 2003. "Understanding Differences in Household Financial Wealth between the United States and Great Britain," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(2).
    6. Alan Greenspan & James E. Kennedy, 2005. "Estimates of home mortgage originations, repayments, and debt on one-to-four-family residences," Finance and Economics Discussion Series 2005-41, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    7. Luci Ellis & Jeremy Lawson & Laura Roberts-Thomson, 2003. "Housing Leverage in Australia," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp2003-09, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    8. Hurst, Erik & Stafford, Frank, 2004. "Home Is Where the Equity Is: Mortgage Refinancing and Household Consumption," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 36(6), pages 985-1014, December.
    9. John V. Duca, 2006. "Making sense of the U.S. housing slowdown," Economic Letter, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, vol. 1(nov).
    10. Viola Angelini & Peter Simmons, "undated". "Housing Debt, Employment Risk and Consumption," Discussion Papers 05/07, Department of Economics, University of York.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Atalay, Kadir & Whelan, Stephen & Yates, Judith, 2013. "Housing Wealth and Household Consumption: New Evidence from Australia and Canada," Working Papers 2013-04, University of Sydney, School of Economics.
    2. Fisher, Lance A. & Otto, Glenn & Voss, Graham M., 2010. "The response of Australian consumption to housing wealth," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 32(1), pages 284-299, March.
    3. David M. Williams, 2010. "Consumption, wealth and credit liberalisation in Australia," Economics Series Working Papers 492, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    4. Declan French & Donal McKillop & Tripti Sharma, 2017. "Analysis of Housing Equity Withdrawal by its Forms," CHaRMS Working Papers 17-04, Centre for HeAlth Research at the Management School (CHaRMS).
    5. Kadir Atalay & Stephen Whelan & Judith Yates, 2016. "House Prices, Wealth and Consumption: New Evidence from Australia and Canada," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 62(1), pages 69-91, March.
    6. Ebner, André, 2013. "A micro view on home equity withdrawal and its determinants: Evidence from Dutch households," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 321-337.
    7. Viola Angelini & Peter Simmons, "undated". "Housing Debt and Consumption," Discussion Papers 11/20, Department of Economics, University of York.
    8. Veronica John Muellbauer & Veronica David M Williams, 2012. "Credit conditions and the real economy: the elephant in the room," BIS Papers chapters, in: Bank for International Settlements (ed.), Property markets and financial stability, volume 64, pages 95-101, Bank for International Settlements.
    9. Madis Aben & Merike Kukk & Karsten Staehr, 2012. "Housing Equity Withdrawal and Consumption Dynamics in Estonia 2002-2011," Research in Economics and Business: Central and Eastern Europe, Tallinn School of Economics and Business Administration, Tallinn University of Technology, vol. 4(1).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Duca, John V. & Muellbauer, John & Murphy, Anthony, 2010. "Housing markets and the financial crisis of 2007-2009: Lessons for the future," Journal of Financial Stability, Elsevier, vol. 6(4), pages 203-217, December.
    2. Ebner, André, 2013. "A micro view on home equity withdrawal and its determinants: Evidence from Dutch households," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 321-337.
    3. Vivien Burrows, 2018. "The Impact of House Prices on Consumption in the UK: a New Perspective," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 85(337), pages 92-123, January.
    4. Frederic S. Mishkin, 2007. "Housing and the monetary transmission mechanism," Proceedings - Economic Policy Symposium - Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 359-413.
    5. Timothy Smeeding & Eva Sierminska & Andrea Brandolini, 2006. "Cross National Comparison of Income and Wealth Status in Retirement: First Results from the Luxembourg Wealth Study (LWS)," LWS Working papers 2, LIS Cross-National Data Center in Luxembourg.
    6. Dalina Amonhaemanon, 2015. "The Impact of Stock Price and Real Estate Price Shocks on Consumption: The Thai Experience," International Journal of Financial Research, International Journal of Financial Research, Sciedu Press, vol. 6(1), pages 137-148, January.
    7. Chau Do & Irina Paley, 2012. "Altruism from the house: the impact of home equity on charitable giving," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 10(3), pages 375-393, September.
    8. Frederic S. Mishkin, 2007. "\"Housing and the monetary transmission mechanism,\" Finance and Economics Discussion Series Working Paper: a speech at the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City's Economic Symposium, Jackson ," Speech 312, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (U.S.).
    9. Simone Salotti, 2012. "Wealth Effects in the US: Evidence from the Combination of Two Surveys," The Economic and Social Review, Economic and Social Studies, vol. 43(1), pages 67-98.
    10. Chuanyong Zhang & Guoliang Feng, 2018. "More wealth, less leisure? Effect of housing wealth on tourism expenditure in China," Tourism Economics, , vol. 24(5), pages 526-540, August.
    11. Yaowu Yang & Chengyu Yang, 2014. "How May Consumption be Affected by Housing and Financial Assets in China and the Euro Countries?," China Economic Policy Review (CEPR), World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd., vol. 3(02), pages 1-20.
    12. Bostic, Raphael & Gabriel, Stuart & Painter, Gary, 2009. "Housing wealth, financial wealth, and consumption: New evidence from micro data," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 79-89, January.
    13. Alan Greenspan & James Kennedy, 2008. "Sources and uses of equity extracted from homes," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 24(1), pages 120-144, spring.
    14. Jörg Bibow, 2010. "Alternative Strategien der Budgetkonsolidierung in Österreich nach der Rezession," IMK Studies 03-2010, IMK at the Hans Boeckler Foundation, Macroeconomic Policy Institute.
    15. Carl Schwartz & Tim Hampton & Christine Lewis & David Norman, 2006. "A Survey of Housing Equity Withdrawal and Injection in Australia," RBA Research Discussion Papers rdp2006-08, Reserve Bank of Australia.
    16. Strauss, Jack, 2013. "Does housing drive state-level job growth? Building permits and consumer expectations forecast a state’s economic activity," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 73(1), pages 77-93.
    17. J. Benjamin & P. Chinloy, 2008. "Home Equity, Household Savings and Consumption," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 37(1), pages 21-32, July.
    18. Atif Mian & Amir Sufi, 2011. "House Prices, Home Equity-Based Borrowing, and the US Household Leverage Crisis," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(5), pages 2132-2156, August.
    19. Sumit Agarwal, 2007. "The Impact of Homeowners' Housing Wealth Misestimation on Consumption and Saving Decisions," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 35(2), pages 135-154, June.
    20. Michael LaCour-Little & Eric Rosenblatt & Vincent Yao, 2010. "Home Equity Extraction by Homeowners: 2000-2006," Journal of Real Estate Research, American Real Estate Society, vol. 32(1), pages 23-46.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ecorec:v:84:y:2008:i:267:p:421-433. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/esausea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.