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The consumption response to borrowing constraints in the mortgage market

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  • Tracey, Belinda

    (Bank of England)

  • Van Horen, Neeltje

    (Bank of England)

Abstract

This paper shows that relaxing borrowing constraints positively affects household consumption in addition to stimulating housing market activity. We focus on the UK Help-to-Buy (HTB) program, which provided a sudden relaxation of the down payment constraint by facilitating home purchases with only a 5% down payment. Our research design exploits geographic variation in exposure to HTB and uses administrative data on mortgages and car sales in combination with household survey data. We estimate that the program increased total home purchases by 11%, and the increase was driven almost entirely by first-time and young buyers. Regions that were more exposed to the program experienced a rise in non-durable consumption unrelated to the home and in loan-financed car purchases, in addition to an increase in home-related expenditures. These results are independent of changes in regional house prices. Our findings point to a further link between the housing market and household consumption that does not operate through the home purchase and housing wealth channels.

Suggested Citation

  • Tracey, Belinda & Van Horen, Neeltje, 2021. "The consumption response to borrowing constraints in the mortgage market," Bank of England working papers 919, Bank of England.
    • Handle: RePEc:boe:boeewp:0919
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    Cited by:

    1. Mokas, Dimitris & Giuliodori, Massimo, 2023. "Effects of LTV announcements in EU economies," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 133(C).
    2. Carozzi, Felipe & Hilber, Christian A.L. & Yu, Xiaolun, 2024. "On the economic impacts of mortgage credit expansion policies: Evidence from help to buy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    3. Stefano Colonnello & Mariela Dal Borgo, 2024. "Raising Household Leverage: Evidence from Co-Financed Mortgages," Working Papers 2024: 01, Department of Economics, University of Venice "Ca' Foscari".
    4. repec:ehl:lserod:124116 is not listed on IDEAS
    5. Jin Cao & Chao Cui & Valeriya Dinger & Martin B. Holm & Shulong Kang, 2022. "Identifying the depreciation rate of durables from marginal spending responses," Working Paper 2022/1, Norges Bank.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Borrowing constraints; consumption; housing market; mortgage market;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • G21 - Financial Economics - - Financial Institutions and Services - - - Banks; Other Depository Institutions; Micro Finance Institutions; Mortgages
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand
    • R28 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Government Policy

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