Working Paper: NBER ID: w23570
Authors: Efraim Benmelech; Adam Guren; Brian T. Melzer
Abstract: We introduce and quantify a new channel through which the housing market affects household spending: the home purchase channel. Using an event-study design with data from the Consumer Expenditure Survey, we show that households spend on average $3,700 more in the months before and the first year following a home purchase. This spending is concentrated in the home-related durables and home improvements sectors, which are complementary to the purchase of the house. Expenditures on nondurables and durables unrelated to the home remain unchanged or decrease modestly. We estimate that the home purchase channel played a substantial role in the Great Recession, accounting for one-third of the decline in home-related durables spending and a fifth of the decline in home maintenance and investment spending from 2005 to 2010, together totaling $14.3 billion annually.
Keywords: home purchases; household consumption; durable goods; investment; Great Recession
JEL Codes: E21; E32; G01; G12; R11; R2; R21
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Home purchases (R21) | Increase in household spending (D19) |
| Home purchases (R21) | Spending on home-related durables and improvements (D12) |
| Home purchases (R21) | Decline in home-related durables spending (D19) |
| Home purchases (R21) | Decline in home maintenance and investment spending (E20) |
| Home purchases (R21) | Stable spending on non-durables and durables unrelated to the home (D12) |