Why do Households Concentrate Their Wealth in Housing?

An apparent paradox in household wealth accumulation in the United States is the relatively small holding of financial assets and the large holding of housing wealth. To explain the high concentration of household wealth in housing, this paper estimates the marginal propensity to consume from housing and from financial assets. A higher marginal propensity to consume from housing rather than from financial assets would lead households to concentrate their wealth in real estate. For aggregate U.S. quarterly data from 1952:1 to 2002:2, the marginal propensity to consume from housing is higher than that from financial wealth. These conditions provide a rationale for the concentration of household assets in housing.

Real Estate Brokerage and the Hosting Market: An Annotated Bibliography

A number of facets of real estate brokerage have been examined over time in theoretical and empirical articles appearing in the literature. This article summarizes brokerage research and suggests avenues for future inquiry. In attempting to organize brokerage research, the research is classified into eight broad topical areas: (1) brokerage firm characteristics; (2) broker commissions; (3) time on the market; (4) broker compensation; (5) the effects of brokerage on house prices; (6) regulation of the brokerage industry; (7) legal liability; and (8) international comparisons. In each area, we point out the major focus of the research by summarizing important findings.

What Do We Know About Real Estate Brokerage?

Many facets of real estate brokerage have been examined in studies appearing in the literature over the last several years. This review attempts to organize the research around six questions concerning the brokerage industry: (1) What is the nature of the market for brokerage services and how does it influence the individual firm; (2) What factors determine broker and agent compensation; (3) How does brokerage participation influence time on the market and price; (4) Is the brokerage market efficient and equitable;(5) Must brokerage firms assume greater liability; and (6) How do brokerage markets vary internationally. In examining each question, the review points out the major focus of the research and summarizes important findings. Its purpose is to identify key issues facing the brokerage industry and suggest avenues for future study.

What Do We Know about Apartments and Their Markets?

This paper examines major themes in apartment market research. The intent is to provide an overview of academic studies of the apartment market and to outline directions for future research.

Franchising in Residential Brokerage

This paper explores the profitability of real estate franchises. The database for the study consists of observations from the National Association of Realtors©' 2001 survey of real estate brokerage firms. Franchises are found to generate additional revenue for franchisees. However, net margins defined as the difference between revenues received and expenses paid (including franchise royalties) are lower for firms with franchises. The findings indicate that franchisors appear to extract the excess rents from the franchisee.

Technology and Real Estate Brokerage Firm Financial Performance

This study investigates the impact of Internet usage on the financial performance of residential real estate brokerage firms using a database of over 1,700 observations. Factor loadings and a factor score for Internet usage are developed. The results show that Internet use is positively related to revenue and net income, and negatively related to net margin. In a second stage analysis, Internet use is found to be positively associated with franchise affiliation, affiliation with a referral /relocation network and firm size, while negatively related to firm age, single-office firms and location in the West and South (relative to the Northeast).

X-ray dark-field tomography reveals tooth cracks

Abstract Cracked tooth syndrome (CTS) is a common clinical finding for teeth, it affects about 5% of all adults each year. The finding of CTS is favored by several risk factors such as restorations, bruxism, occlusion habits, and age. Treatment options range, depending on the severity, from no treatment at all to tooth extraction. Early diagnosis of CTS is crucial for optimal treatment and symptom reduction. There is no standard procedure for an evidence-based diagnosis up to date. The diagnosis is a challenge by the fact that the symptoms, including pain and sensitivity to temperature stimuli, cannot be clearly linked to the disease. Commonly used visual inspection does not provide in-depth information and is limited by the resolution of human eyes. This can be overcome by magnifying optics or contrast enhancers, but the diagnosis will still strongly rely on the practicians experience. Other methods are symptom reproduction with percussions, thermal pulp tests or bite tests. Dental X-ray radiography, as well as computed tomography, rarely detect cracks as they are limited in resolution. Here, we investigate X-ray dark-field tomography (XDT) for the detection of tooth microcracks. XDT simultaneously detects X-ray small-angle scattering (SAXS) in addition to the attenuation, whereas it is most sensitive to the micrometer regime. Since SAXS originates from gradients in electron density, the signal is sensitive to the sample morphology. Microcracks create manifold interfaces which lead to a strong signal. Therefore, it is possible to detect structural changes originating from subpixel-sized structures without directly resolving them. Together with complementary attenuation information, which visualizes comparatively large cracks, cracks are detected on all length-scales for a whole tooth in a non-destructive way. Hence, this proof-of principle study on three ex-vivo teeth shows the potential of X-ray scattering for evidence-based detection of cracked teeth

The Impact of Information Technology on Real Estate Licensee Income

The evolution of the Internet and other forms of information technology are changing dramatically the way the real estate brokerage industry does business. While a number of previous studies have examined the earnings of real estate salespersons, few have looked at the use of information technology as it relates to real estate licensee income. The purpose of this study is to examine this relationship using a combination of factor analysis and regression modeling. The findings support a positive impact of information technology use on the earnings of real estate licensees

An Evaluation of the Asset Integrated Mortgage

The Federal National Mortgage Association (FNMA) recently approved a new type of hybrid mortgage, the Asset Integrated Mortgage (AIM), that combines a home loan and a fixed insurance annuity. The borrower invests most of the money in an annuity that is normally earmarked for the down payment. As long as the annuity investment plus the down payment exceeds 20 percent of the home's worth, the borrower avoids mortgage insurance costs, just like a conventional mortgage with 20 percent down. The AIM is being promoted as a way for consumers to save, diversify their asset base and build a nest egg for retirement.(1

Retail Vacancy Rates: The Influence of National and Local Economic Conditions

This study examines the extent to which local retail vacancy rates are influenced by vacancy rates in surrounding communities versus the overall national vacancy rate in the retail sector. Consistent with prior research, our simultaneous spatial autoregressive analyses of pooled retail market vacancy rates suggests that there is considerable spatial correlation in vacancy rates among neighboring metropolitan areas. There is also evidence of substantial temporal correlation in local vacancy rates. While spatial correlation dominates the national vacancy rate in explaining variation in the level of vacancy rates, changes in the national vacancy rate explain a statistically significant portion of the variation in the changes in local vacancy rates. The nature and extent to which changes in national rates affect local rates is found to differ markedly across MSAs