Real Estate

Evidence from the Boston condominium market of the early 1990's reveals that an owner's equity position determines his experience as a seller. An owner of a property with a high loan-to-value ratio sets a higher asking price, has a higher expected time on the market and, if he sells, receives a higher price than an owner with proportionately less debt. The down payment requirement for purchasers, but not incumbent owners, provides a simple explanation for this phenomenon among owner-occupants.

When the surge of equity REIT initial public offerings (IPOs) came to market in 1993 and 1994, the quality as well as an obvious increase in the quantity of newly securitized real estate (approximately $15.1 billion in the first two years of this bull market), defined a new REIT marketplace. By the end of 1995, the implied market capitalization of equity REITs had reached $59 billion, fourfold its size in 1992, and these real estate companies controlled approximately $83 billion in real estate.

This chapter examines the changing nature of interactions between government and private developer and the character of their joint projects. In particular, it examines the objectives of public/private development; the process involved in forming public/private partnerships; and the practical problems and policy issues associated with public/private development.

Frieden and Sagalyn note that, in the 1970s, a city's favorite solution to solving its problems was to build a mall. Although in the complete chapter (Downtown, Inc.: How America Rebuilds Cities, MIT Press) the authors focus on four case studies of varying political and social conditions, this selection contains only the most prominent example of a downtown retail success story, Boston's Faneuil Hall Marketplace.

Analyzes the potential of reverse mortgages to increase the income and liquid wealth of the elderly by identifying households with relatively high levels of housing equity. Definition; Review of related literature; Descriptive statistics; Reverse mortgage simulations; Barriers to acceptance of reverse mortgages.

Edited by John R. White.