International ReCapNet Conference on Behavioural Real Estate at ZEW

Does the original purchase price of a house have any effect on its estimated sale price even decades later? What characteristics of a family determine whether their children will ever own their own home? And how does our level of self control influence our decision over whether to buy property through debt-based financing or not? These are just a few of the questions surrounding behavioural economic approaches in property investment that were discussed by around 20 international guest speakers on 3 and 4 November in Mannheim.

Here at ZEW, the Leibniz Network on Real Estate Markets and Capital Markets (also known as ReCapNet) gathered for their annual conference, now in its eighth year. Over the course of twelve lectures, participants presented findings from their latest behavioural scientific research into the real estate market. Paul Willen, financial economist in the research department at the Federal Reserve Bank in Boston and guest researcher at Harvard University, used his keynote speech to offer new insights into the creation of the mortgage boom in the US between 2000 and 2008 and also dealt in depth with the causes of the subprime mortgage crisis.

ReCapNet – A well-established network in the international arena

ReCapNet conducts research at the intersection of the real estate and capital markets. Their researchers analyse what implications the international capital markets have for the real estate markets from a number of different angles. The ReCapNet Network will be running their internationally recognised annual conference next year as well, most likely in early November 2017.