Capital Gain Expectations And Efficiency In The Real Estate Markets

Abstract

Capital gain expectation is known to be an important determinant of housing price hikes during the real estate booms. Empirically, however, specifying the way expectations about current and future economic variables are formed is a dilemma. Although it is reasonable to assume that economic fundamentals have a significant effect on the investors’ expectation about future gains, a number of housing market analysts claim that expectations of housing prices are extrapolative. This study attempts to investigate the mechanism by which investors’ capital gain expectations and psychology are shaped. The results suggest that housing prices are predictable with respect to capital gain expectations only when these expectations are formed by extrapolation of past price appreciations. Considering the large number of empirical evidence on housing market anomaly with respect to capital gain expectations, the results suggest that the extrapolative expectations can better explain the real estate price behavior than expectations that are formed by economic fundamentals.