Susan M. Wachter

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Susan M. Wachter is the Albert Sussman Professor of Real Estate, and Professor of Finance at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, the Director for the Wharton GeoSpatial Initiative and Lab, and the co-director of the Penn Institute for Urban Research. She also co-directs the Spatial Integration Laboratory for Urban Systems at the University of Pennsylvania. [1] [2] As an economist, she is frequently sought for comment on real estate market trends in well known media outlets—a recent interview with the International Monetary Fund summarizes her views and research. [3] [4] [5] [6]

Contents

Susan M. Wachter, Field Hearing on Ability to Repay (8392462595).jpg

Wachter is noted for developing a model that explains why real estate is subject to booms and busts. [7] The model is based on the inability to short sell homes and real estate more generally. [8] Wachter's model incorporates banks' mortgage lending based on market comparables, which can be disconnected from market fundamentals. Because financial entities compete for market share by undermining lending standards procyclically, thereby creating a systemic risk externality, Wachter's additional work points to the need for what has become known as macro prudential policy and specifically the regulation of the government-sponsored enterprises as utilities. [9]

Wachter helped to found Wharton's Real Estate Department with the goal of using economic models, including finance and urban economics, to improve the understanding of how real estate markets work. She is also known for her early work on redlining [10] [11] and for her work on the impact of lending constraints on homeownership. [12]

A 2021 study found Wachter to be the second most cited author among academics who publish in real estate economics journals globally. [13]

Appointments

Wachter was appointed the Assistant Secretary for Policy Development and Research with the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development (1998-2001). [14] [15] She currently serves on the Financial Research Advisory Committee for the Office of Financial Research, a sub-department of the U.S. Department of the Treasury (2016). [16] Wachter was Celia Moh Visiting Professor at Singapore Management University (2004). [17] She serves on the Board of Editors for various publications including the Journal of Housing Economics, the Housing Policy Debate, the Journal of Real Estate and Finance, and the Journal of Real Estate Research. Wachter is the co-editor, with Eugenie L. Birch, of the Social Science Research Network Urban Research eJournal. [18] On November 13, 2020, Wachter was appointed to the Advisory Committee of the Bureau of Economic Analysis to advise on current issues in housing and finance.

She has been President of the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (1988-1989). [19] Wachter has also served on the Global Urban Development Advisory Board, the National Research Council Review and on HUD Research (2008), the Advisory Board for Regulatory Research with the National Association of Homebuilders (2005-2006), the Board of Directors for the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (2003-2006), and the Blue Ribbon Committee on Housing Finance (2005-2006). [1] [20] From 1998-2001 she served on the White House Interagency Taskforce for E-Government and the White House Interagency Taskforce on Liveable Cities. [2] From 1969 to 1972, she was a Lecturer in the Department of Economics at Bryn Mawr College. [21]

Awards

Wachter is a recipient of the Anvil Award for Teaching Excellence, the Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching at the University of Pennsylvania, the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Best International Paper Award, and the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Lifetime Achievement Award. [22]

Wachter is the 2022 recipient of the John M. Quigley Medal for Advancing Real Estate and Urban Economics from the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (AREUEA). [23]

Selected works

Some of Wachter's works are listed below [24]

Books

Selected edited books

  • Wachter, Susan M.; Zeuli, Kimberly A. (2014). Revitalizing American Cities. University of Pennsylvania Press. ISBN   978-0-8122-4555-4.
  • Women Health and the World’s Cities, co-editors Afaf Ibrahim Meleis and Eugénie L. Birch (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania, 2011) 328 pages.
  • The American Mortgage System: Crisis and Reform, co-editor Marvin Smith (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania, 2011) 392 pages
  • Neighborhood and Life Chances: How Place Matters in Modern America, co-editors Harriet B. Newburger and Eugénie L. Birch (Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania, 2011) 352 pages.

Selected book chapters

  • “Implications of the Housing Market Bubble for Sustainable Homeownership," co-authors Paul Calem and Leonard Nakamura, The American Mortgage System: Crisis and Reform, eds. Wachter and Smith, Philadelphia: Penn Press (2011).
  • “Information Failure and the U.S. Mortgage Crisis,” co-author Adam Levitin, The American Mortgage System: Crisis and Reform, eds. Wachter and Smith, Philadelphia: Penn Press (2011).
  • “Using Econometrics and Geographic Information Systems for Property Valuation: A Spatial Hedonic Pricing Model,” co-authors Richard Bernknopf, Kevin Gillen and Anne Wein, Visual Valuation: Implementing Valuation Modeling and Geographic Information Solutions, eds. Mark R. Linne and Michelle Thompson, Chicago: Appraisal Institute, August 2010.
  • “The Housing Finance Revolution,” co-author Richard Green, reprinted in The Blackwell Companion to the Economics of Housing: The Housing Wealth of Nations, eds. Susan Smith and Beverley Searle, London: John Wiley & Sons, 2010.
  • “Urban Growth and Housing Affordability: The Conflict,” co-author Richard Voith, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Volume 626, November 2009, p. 112.
  • “Introduction,” co-author Eugénie Birch, The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Volume 626, November 2009, p. 112.

Articles

Related Research Articles

The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is the business school of the University of Pennsylvania, a private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia. It is the world's oldest collegiate business school, established in 1881 through a donation from Joseph Wharton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Real estate economics</span> Application of economic techniques to real estate markets

Real estate economics is the application of economic techniques to real estate markets. It tries to describe, explain, and predict patterns of prices, supply, and demand. The closely related field of housing economics is narrower in scope, concentrating on residential real estate markets, while the research on real estate trends focuses on the business and structural changes affecting the industry. Both draw on partial equilibrium analysis, urban economics, spatial economics, basic and extensive research, surveys, and finance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second mortgage</span>

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Causes of the 2000s United States housing bubble</span>

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Richard K. Green is director of the University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate. He holds the Lusk Chair in Real Estate and is Professor in the USC Price School of Public Policy and in the USC Marshall School of Business. In 2015-16, he is serving as Senior Advisor for Housing Finance at the US Department of Housing and Urban Development.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jack M. Guttentag</span>

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Eugenie L. Birch is an American scholar and city planner specializing in international and domestic planning history and urban revitalization.

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Real estate is property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this (also) an item of real property, buildings or housing in general. In terms of law, real is in relation to land property and is different from personal property while estate means the "interest" a person has in that land property.

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Michael Wachter is the William B. and Mary Barb Johnson Professor of Law and Economics Emeritus at the University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Co-Director of the Institute for Law & Economics.

Timothy Riddiough is an American researcher and academic. He is the James A. Graaskamp Chair and the Chair of the department of real estate and urban land economics at University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is best known for his work on credit risk in mortgage lending, mortgage securitization, real options, REIT investment and corporate finance, and land use regulation.

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References

  1. 1 2 "Susan M Wachter - Real Estate Department". Real-estate.wharton.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  2. 1 2 "Susan M. Wachter :CV" (PDF). Real.wharton.upenn.edu. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  3. "Foreclosures Drag Down Home Sale Prices". NPR. 2011-03-22. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  4. "Should the Government End Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? - Room for Debate". The New York Times . 2013-06-20. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  5. Gopal, Prashant (2010-12-31). "U.S. Housing Market Double-Dip Unlikely, Wharton's Wachter Says". Bloomberg. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  6. Ahir, Hites (2019-06-06). "Understanding Housing Finance: Views from Susan Wachter". The Unassuming Economist. Retrieved 2019-07-19.
  7. Herring, Richard J.; Wachter, Susan M. (1 July 1999). "Real Estate Booms and Banking Busts: An International Perspective". SSRN   2546407.
  8. Levitin, Adam J.; Wachter, Susan M. (15 July 2013). "The Commercial Real Estate Bubble". SSRN   1978264.
  9. Cooperstein, Richard; Fears, Ken; Wachter, Susan (2 January 2021). "Government-Sponsored Enterprises: Their Viability as Public Utilities". Housing Policy Debate. 31 (1): 33–50. doi:10.1080/10511482.2020.1850013. S2CID   231990848.
  10. Wachter, Susan M.; Guttentag, Jack (1980). "Redlining and Public Policy". SSRN   3423074.
  11. Schill, Michael H.; Wachter, Susan M. (January 1995). "Housing market constraints and spatial stratification by income and race". Housing Policy Debate. 6 (1): 141–167. doi:10.1080/10511482.1995.9521184.
  12. Linneman, Peter; Megbolugbe, Isaac F.; Wachter, Susan M.; Cho, Man (1 December 1997). "Do Borrowing Constraints Change U.S. Homeownership Rates?". Journal of Housing Economics. 6 (4): 318–333. doi: 10.1006/jhec.1997.0218 .
  13. "The significance of impact in real estate research publications" (PDF). Journal of Property Investment & Finance. March 2021.
  14. "PRESIDENT CLINTON NAMES SUSAN M. WACHTER AS ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR POLICY DEVELOPMENT AND RESEARCH AT THE DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT" (Press release). The White House. 29 July 1999.
  15. "Susan Wachter Named Assistant Secretary" (Press release). United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. January 2000.
  16. Research, Office of Financial. "Financial Research Advisory Committee | Office of Financial Research" (PDF). financialresearch.gov. Retrieved 2016-11-16.
  17. "Susan Wachter | World Economic Forum - Susan Wachter". Weforum.org. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  18. "Penn IUR launches the Urban Research eJournal" (Press release). Penn IUR. 2 October 2012.
  19. http://www.areuea.org/about/past_presidents.phtmlWachter%5B%5D
  20. "Advisory Board". Globalurban.org. 2013-10-18. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  21. (PDF) https://faculty.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/Wachter-CV-May-2019.pdf.{{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)[ dead link ][ self-published source? ]
  22. "Lindback Awards at Penn, University of Pennsylvania, University Archives". Archives.upenn.edu. Archived from the original on 2013-03-24. Retrieved 2013-11-03.
  23. "John M. Quigley Medal for Advancing Real Estate and Urban Economics".
  24. "Curriculum Vitae". Archived from the original on November 4, 2013. Retrieved July 18, 2013.