Do Homeowners Increase Consumption after the Last Mortgage Payment? An Alternative Test of the Permanent Income Hypothesis
利用房贷还清后家庭可支配收入增加这一事件,检验家庭是否如永久收入假说所预测的那样平滑消费,发现家庭并未增加非耐用品消费,而是增加了金融储蓄和耐用品储蓄。
The maturity date of a mortgage loan marks the end of monthly mortgage payments for homeowners. In the period after the last payment, homeowners experience an increase in their disposable income. Our study interprets this event as an anticipated increase in income, and tests whether households smooth consumption over the transition period as predicted by the rational expectation Life-Cycle/Permanent-Income Hypothesis. We find households do not alter nondurable goods consumption in the period following the last mortgage payment. Instead, they increase both financial savings and savings in durable goods such as housefurnishings and entertainment equipments in the year of the last mortgage payment.