The Missing Homebuyers: Regional Heterogeneity and Credit Contractions

Abstract

This paper documents an unprecedented decrease in young homeownership since the Great Recession driven by regions with high house prices. Using a panel of U.S. metro areas, I calibrate an equilibrium spatial macro-finance model with overlapping generations of mobile households. The dynamics of regional housing markets is explained by an aggregate credit contraction with heterogeneous local impacts rather than by local shocks. Lower millennial income and wealth amplify its effect. The impact of subsidies to first-time buyers is dampened, because they fail to stimulate regions that suffer from larger busts. Place-based subsidies achieve larger gains.

Keywords: Spatial macro-finance, home ownership, first-time buyers, mortgages, credit standards, house prices, Millennials

JEL Classification: E21, G11, G21, G51, J11, R30