期刊名称：Business Review - Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
印刷版ISSN：0007-7011
出版年度：2011
卷号：2011
出版社：Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia
摘要：For most homeowners, housing is the
single most important component of their
nonpension wealth. Therefore, a change in
house prices greatly affects the total wealth
of many households. Furthermore, movements in house
prices can affect people’s lives indirectly. For example,
the surge in the number of mortgage defaults and
foreclosures during the recent recession was triggered in
part by a drop in house prices, and this surge damaged
the health of the financial institutions that either
directly or indirectly owned mortgage loans. In turn, the
deteriorating health of the financial sector was one of the
factors contributing to the recession. Naturally, for both
policymakers and for people who want to make sound
financial decisions, it is important to understand how and
why house prices move. In this article, Makoto Nakajima
explains a simple theory that helps us better understand
house-price dynamics. The theory — called the user
cost-rent equivalence — is based on the close relationship
between user costs, which are the costs of owning a house
for a year, and rents.
