Industry Concentration and Regional Housing Market Performance

Prior literature has analyzed determinants of housing appreciation rates at the regional level, including several studies on inter-regional differences. Generally, these previous studies have identified income, population shifts, and other demographic changes as the most im-portant factors in explaining regional price appreciation for single-family residential proper-ties. Existing literature has not considered the impact that regional industry concentration might have on regional housing appreciation. This study uses a Federal Housing Finance Ad-ministration price index, along with demographic and industry concentration data collected from the U.S. Census and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, to investigate whether a more or less highly concentrated industry base, as measured by a Herfindahl index, contributes to regional housing market performance. The questions of housing market impacts related to increasing concentration for a reasonably diversified metropolitan statistical area and impacts related to increasing diversification for an already-concentrated area are also examined

Do tax benefits conferred to Sub-S banks affect their deposit or loan rates?

Positive economics predicts that Sub-S banks, with no taxes paid at the corporate level, will price their products lower than otherwise identical C corporation banks in a competitive environment. Alternatively, if banks price bundle their products, Sub-S tax benefits might have little (no) effect on product rates. The empirical analysis finds that Sub-S deposit (loan) rates are equal to or lower (higher) than similar C corporation bank rates. Thus, there is little evidence of any tax benefits accruing to Sub-S bank customers. In contrast, tax-exempt credit unions do offer higher deposit rates and lower loan rates than C corporation banks.Sub-chapter S bank Community bank Deposit rate Loan rate

Flips, flops and foreclosures: anatomy of a real estate bubble

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the anatomy of a real estate bubble. In the process, the paper identifies three phases of the market's evolution: flips, flops and foreclosures. An examination of the Las Vegas real estate market illustrates the three phases. Design/methodology/approach – The paper examines transaction data from the metropolitan Las Vegas area (Clark County) from 1994 to 2009. The first part of the analysis identifies the three phases of the bubble and is descriptive in nature. This is followed by more formal tests of Granger causality. Findings – In the early part of the sample, a large percentage of transactions are speculative or “flips” causing prices to rapidly increase. Eventually, flipping loses its profitability and over the last three years, there is an increasing number of foreclosures leading to falling prices. The descriptive analysis of the Las Vegas market is augmented with causality tests which show that prices were the driving force behind all three phases in the market's evolution. Research limitations/implications – Future research might focus on underlying structural inter-temporal relationships to augment the Granger causality tests. Practical implications – Analysis shows that price is the driving force behind a bubble and that loan modification programs alone will not solve the current housing crisis. Social implications – Government entities might expand neighborhood stabilization programs to affect both demand and supply of homes. Moreover, it might be prudent to include information related to flipping on multiple listing service agreements. Additionally, local governments should be consistent in their record keeping. Originality/value – To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first paper to examine the housing bubble using an extensive set of transaction data.Mortgage companies, Mortgage default, Real estate, United States of America

An Empirical Analysis of Residential Property Flipping

Residential property flipping, House prices,