Repository logo

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne

Infoscience

  • English
  • French
Log In
  1. Home
  2. Academic and Research Output
  3. Journal articles
  4. Tracking and Stress-Testing U.S. Household Leverage
 
research article

Tracking and Stress-Testing U.S. Household Leverage

Fuster, Andreas  
•
Guttman-Kenney, Benedict
•
Haughwout, Andrew F.
2018
FRBNY Economic Policy Review

Housing equity is an important component of borrowers’ wealth and a critical determinant of their vulnerability to shocks. In this article, the authors use a unique, newly created data set to analyze the evolution of household leverage—defined here as the ratio of housing debt to housing values—over time and across locations in the United States, at the micro level. They find that leverage was at a very low point just prior to the large declines in house prices that began in 2006, and rose very quickly through 2012, in spite of reductions in housing debt. As of early 2017, leverage statistics were falling back toward their pre-crisis levels, reflecting a more than 30 percent increase in home prices nationally since 2012. Using borrower-level leverage measures and another unique feature of the data—updated borrower credit scores—the authors conduct “stress tests” in which they project leverage and defaults under various adverse house price scenarios. They find that while the riskiness of the household sector has declined significantly since 2012, when home prices were at their low, the sector remains vulnerable to very severe declines in house prices.

  • Details
  • Metrics
Type
research article
Author(s)
Fuster, Andreas  
Guttman-Kenney, Benedict
Haughwout, Andrew F.
Date Issued

2018

Published in
FRBNY Economic Policy Review
Volume

24

Issue

1

Start page

35

End page

63

URL

Link to article

https://www.newyorkfed.org/research/epr/2018/epr_2018_us-household-leverage_fuster
Editorial or Peer reviewed

REVIEWED

Written at

OTHER

EPFL units
SFI-AF  
Available on Infoscience
December 7, 2021
Use this identifier to reference this record
https://infoscience.epfl.ch/handle/20.500.14299/183727
Logo EPFL, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne
  • Contact
  • infoscience@epfl.ch

  • Follow us on Facebook
  • Follow us on Instagram
  • Follow us on LinkedIn
  • Follow us on X
  • Follow us on Youtube
AccessibilityLegal noticePrivacy policyCookie settingsEnd User AgreementGet helpFeedback

Infoscience is a service managed and provided by the Library and IT Services of EPFL. © EPFL, tous droits réservés