Income inequality and house prices have risen sharply in developed countries during 1975–2010. In line with theoretical models, we argue that this co-movement is no coincidence, but that inequality has driven up house prices on the grounds that it raises the aggregate demand for housing. Our results suggest that absolute inequality and house prices in most Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries were positively correlated and cointegrated, whereas relative inequality and mean income were not significant long-run determinants. This finding indicates that the surge in OECD house prices in part can be explained by a top-income-induced increase in housing demand, and that it is important to consider the interaction of rising mean income and its relative distribution when studying potential correlates of house prices. Moreover, our results confirm previous findings that the short-term real interest rate also is an important correlate of house prices.

中文翻译：

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绝对收入不平等和房价上涨

在1975-2010年间，发达国家的收入不平等和房价急剧上升。与理论模型一致，我们认为这种共同运动不是巧合，但不平等导致房价上涨，其理由是这会增加住房的总需求。我们的结果表明，大多数经济合作与发展组织（OECD）国家中的绝对不平等和房价是正相关和协整的，而相对不平等和平均收入并不是长期的重要决定因素。这一发现表明，经合组织房价的上涨部分可以由收入最高的住​​房需求增加来解释，并且在研究房屋的潜在相关性时，必须考虑平均收入上升及其相对分布的相互作用，这一点很重要。价格。