Housing Wealth and Consumption Growth: Evidence from a Large Panel of Households

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Gan, Jie
• 署名单位: Hong Kong University of Science & Technology
• 刊物名称: REVIEW OF FINANCIAL STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0893-9454
• DOI: 10.1093/rfs/hhp127
• 发表日期: 2010
• 页码: 2229
• 关键词: permanent-income hypothesis; liquidity constraints; prices; MARKET

摘要

This article uses a large panel dataset that tracks the housing wealth and credit card spending of 12,793 individuals in Hong Kong to study the relationship between housing wealth and household consumption. I identify a significant effect of housing wealth on consumption. A pure wealth effect can explain part of the sensitivity: households with multiple houses have much stronger consumption responses. Consistent with a relaxation of the credit constraints, mortgage refinancing significantly increases households' consumption sensitivities. However, for the majority of the households that do not refinance, consumption sensitivity appears to be due to a reduction in precautionary saving.