Discussion Paper
How Resilient Is the U.S. Housing Market Now?
Haughwout, Andrew F.; Fuster, Andreas; Guttman-Kenney, Benedict; Geddes, Eilidh (2017-02-13)
Housing is by far the most important asset for most households, and, not coincidentally, housing debt dwarfs other household liabilities. The relationship between housing debt and housing values figures significantly in financial and macroeconomic stability, as events during the housing bust of 2006-12 clearly demonstrated. This week, Liberty Street Economics presents five posts touching on various aspects of housing, from the changing relationship between mortgage debt and housing equity to the future of homeownership. In today’s post, we provide estimates of housing equity and explore how ...
Liberty Street Economics , Paper 20170213

Journal Article
Tracking and stress-testing U.S. household leverage
Haughwout, Andrew F.; Guttman-Kenney, Benedict; Fuster, Andreas (2018-24-01)
Housing equity is an important component of borrowers? wealth and a critical determinant of their vulnerability to shocks. In this article, the authors use a unique, newly created data set to analyze the evolution of household leverage?defined here as the ratio of housing debt to housing values?over time and across locations in the United States, at the micro level. They find that leverage was at a very low point just prior to the large declines in house prices that began in 2006, and rose very quickly through 2012, in spite of reductions in housing debt. As of early 2017, leverage statistics ...
Economic Policy Review , Issue 24-1 , Pages 35-63

Report
Tracking and stress-testing U.S. household leverage
Haughwout, Andrew F.; Guttman-Kenney, Benedict; Fuster, Andreas (2016-08-01)
Borrowers? housing equity is an important component of their wealth and a critical determinant of their vulnerability to shocks. In this paper, we create a unique data set that enables us to provide a comprehensive look at the ratio of housing debt to housing values?what we refer to as household leverage?at the micro level. An advantage of our data is that we are able to study the evolution of household leverage over time and locations in the United States. We find that leverage was at a very low point just prior to the large declines in house prices that began in 2006, and rose very quickly ...
Staff Reports , Paper 787