In ordinary markets, when prices are volatile, market players tend to shy away. This is one of the reasons why even the stock markets are very sensitive to price changes. In a report from businessinsider.com, the reverse is true in the housing market, as price volatility is actually an invitation to investors to join the party.
In a study conducted by James P. Smith, Zoe Oldfield, Richard Blundell and James Banks on the relative volatility of specific housing markets in the UK and the US, they surmised two major conclusions. The first being, individuals are more likely to purchase a home earlier in life in places that have high volatility in prices. The second being, people would move to a larger home in places that have high volatility in prices.
While this seems to go against common sense, the group said in their paper, "Typically, risk averse individuals will avoid risky assets as volatility increases. In this paper, we show that owner-occupied housing is an exception to that rule."
The researchers discovered that people intuitively dive into the large waves price volatility creates in the housing market. In a report from sciencedaily.com, the willingness of these buyers to risk their money not only creates the fluctuations but also is directly related to the price volatility in the housing market.
According to research conducted by fellows from the University of Kansas, namely Associate Professor for Economics Shu Wu and fellow authors Joseph Fairchild of Bank of America and Jun Ma from the University of Alabama, the risk taking in a market place triggers the volatility.
"We find that people's attitude toward risk plays the most important role in driving housing prices at both national and local market levels. People speculate in housing market just like they do in any other asset markets. People buy houses not because they need a place to live, but because they want to or believe they can sell the properties for a profit in near future," according to Professor Wu.
