Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics

Working Paper Series,
Sveriges Riksbank (Central Bank of Sweden)

No 272: Housing Choices and Labor Income Risk

Thomas Jansson ()
Additional contact information
Thomas Jansson: Monetary Policy Department, Central Bank of Sweden, Postal: Sveriges Riksbank, SE-103 37 Stockholm, Sweden

Abstract: I show that individuals whose unemployment risk tends to increase more when local home prices fall optimally invest less in owner-occupied housing. Using a unique, Swedish register based database, I find that a one standard deviation increase in the covariance between individually estimated unemployment risks and local home prices implies an average increase in the value of households investments in owner-occupied housing of USD 13,300. Further, I find, in line with the predictions of my theoretical model, that same-industry couples rent more often, but, conditional on ownership, invest USD 9,200 more on average in single-family homes than different-industry couples.

Keywords: homeownership; housing demand; unemployment; house price risk

JEL-codes: D12; D14; R21

84 pages, August 1, 2013

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rap_wp272_130919.pdf PDF-file 

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