Housing accounts for around half the national wealth in most economies and is usually the largest asset on individuals’ balance sheets. Yet the long-run nature of the asset is somewhat mysterious relative to others: unlike equities and bonds, data about housing’s rate of return can be hard to find for more than a few countries and decades.
A landmark paper and database released in late 2017 by prominent macroeconomists solves this problem. It also made a striking discovery: over the last century, residential housing was far more attractive an asset than was previously recognised,