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Liquidity Constraints in the U.S. Housing Market

Author

Listed:
  • Virgiliu Midrigan

    (New York University)

  • Denis Gorea

    (Bank of Canada)

Abstract

We study the severity of liquidity constraints in the U.S. housing market using a lifecycle model with uninsurable idiosyncratic risks in which houses are illiquid, but agents have the option to refinance their long-term mortgages or extract home equity. The model reproduces well the distribution of individual-level balance sheets – the fraction of housing, mortgage debt and liquid assets in a household’s wealth, the fraction of hand-to-mouth homeowners (Kaplan and Violante, 2014), as the well as the frequency of housing turnover and home equity extraction in the 2001 data. The model implies that 75% of homeowners are liquidity constrained and willing to pay an average of 9 cents to extract an additional dollar of liquidity from their home. Liquidity constraints imply sizable welfare losses that amount to a 1.2% permanent drop in consumption, despite the relatively high frequency of home equity extraction observed in the data.

Suggested Citation

  • Virgiliu Midrigan & Denis Gorea, 2017. "Liquidity Constraints in the U.S. Housing Market," 2017 Meeting Papers 802, Society for Economic Dynamics.
    • Handle: RePEc:red:sed017:802
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Goodman, Sarena & Isen, Adam & Yannelis, Constantine, 2021. "A day late and a dollar short: Liquidity and household formation among student borrowers," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 142(3), pages 1301-1323.
    3. Maiko Koga & Kohei Matsumura, "undated". "Marginal Propensity to Consume and the Housing Choice," Bank of Japan Working Paper Series 20-E-3, Bank of Japan.
    4. Claes Bäckman & Peter van Santen, 2020. "The Amortization Elasticity of Mortgage Demand," Economics Working Papers 2020-16, Department of Economics and Business Economics, Aarhus University.
    5. Mølbak Ingholt, Marcus, 2022. "Multiple Credit Constraints and Time-Varying Macroeconomic Dynamics," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    6. Bäckman, Claes & Lutz, Chandler, 2020. "The impact of interest-only loans on affordability," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).

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    JEL classification:

    • E21 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Consumption; Saving; Wealth
    • E30 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)

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