The impact of house price movements on non-durable goods consumption of older households

Using Health and Retirement Study (HRS) data, we create a new, up-to-date panel dataset to investigate the impact of house price movements on the non-durable goods consumption of older households. We find that older homeowners respond asymmetrically when experiencing house price gains and house price losses. More specifically, they increase total non-durable goods expenditure when house prices appreciate, but fail to reduce consumption when house prices fall.