Does the rise in real estate prices necessarily herald financial instability?
It is generally expected that a rise in real estate prices heralds a financial instability crisis since the increase in real estate wealth leads to : A fall in the savings rate, leading to an external deficit and a risk of a balance of payments crisis; An increase in household debt, leading to an increased risk of a loss of household solvency and of a banking crisis. We look at the situations of the United States, Germany, France, Spain and Italy, before and after the 2009 crisis: Prior to the crisis, the countries where real estate prices rose (United States, France, Spain, Italy) all went through a crisis linked to excess household debt and the external deficit; Since the crisis, where real estate prices have risen (United States, Germany, Spain), this rise has not gone hand-in-hand with financial imbalances, except perhaps in France due to the rise in household debt.