Monetary Policy Shocks and the Role of House Prices Across European Countries

Abstract

Housing systems, as a major sector of industrialised economies, might have profound effects on the transmission mechanism of a monetary shock. Despite a progressive convergence, however, EU countries still differ significantly in their housing and credit market institutions. This paper provides a theoretical discussion of the "housing market" channels of the monetary transmission mechanism (MTM) and offers some evidence on institutional differences across EU countries. Using recursive and semi-structural VARs, we identify monetary policy shocks and assess their effects on residential prices in eight European countries over the EMS period. Results show a different degree of sensitivity of house prices, partly consistent with the institutional features of the European housing systems. We then investigate the importance of these policy-induced changes in house prices in transmitting monetary shocks to the private consumption. In some countries, results provide some support for the view that house price channel may be an important source of MTM to consumption.

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