The wealth effect of housing on aggregate consumption

Abstract

This study measures the effect of changes in net housing and financial wealth on household consumption using Australian data over the period Q2:1988-Q1:2003. It is found a permanent one dollar rise in housing wealth leads to a six cent increase in consumption, three times the effect of financial wealth. The result speaks strongly against the notion of assets fungibility, and suggests that a sharp movement in house prices is potentially more disruptive than a corresponding movement in financial asset prices.