SIFR Conference on Real Estate and Mortgage Finance

Sparvagnshallarna, Stockholm, August 20-21, 2012

Funded by the Torsten Soderberg Foundation and the Ragnar Soderberg Foundation

The Institute for Financial Research (SIFR) is pleased to invite academics and practitioners to a conference on "Real Estate and Mortgage Finance" on August 20-21, 2012, at Sparvagnshallarna, Birger Jarlsgatan 57A in Stockholm.

CONFERENCE FOCUS: Real estate plays an important role in the economy. One of the most important functions for the financial markets - arguably the most important function - is to provide efficient funding for private and commercial real estate. When markets function smoothly it is easy to forget the importance of Real Estate and Mortgage Finance. The financial crisis has, however, reminded us of the tremendous costs to society when the markets cease to function. The main goal of the SIFR conference on "Real Estate and Mortgage Finance" is to deepen our understanding of the real estate market, both from the borrowers' perspective, the lenders/investors perspective and including the important institutional aspects.

The first conference day will feature key-note presentations by leading scholars in the field, which will be accompanied by a panel discussion where practitioners get to express their views on the featured topics. The keynote speakers are:
- William Goetzmann, Yale University
- Dwight Jaffee, UC Berkeley
- Christopher Mayer, Columbia University
- Nancy Wallace, UC Berkeley
- Joseph Williams, Professors Capital

The second conference day has a standard academic format, and aims to provide an academic forum showcasing the frontier research on real estate finance. We will have six presentations of recent research papers, with a discussant for each paper.

REGISTRATION/FURTHER INFORMATION: SIFR will provide accommodation and reimbursement for reasonable travel expenses for presenting authors and discussants. There is no registration fee for the conference. However, participation is limited; and therefore, we suggest that you e-mail anki.helmer@sifr.org as soon as possible, and no later than August 1, to ensure participation. Please include your contact details.

ORGANIZING COMMITTEE: Magnus Dahlquist, Ulf von Lilienfeld-Toal, and Pehr Wissen form the organizing committee.

FURTHER INFORMATION: For further information see http://www.sifr.org

CONFERENCE PROGRAM, MONDAY, AUGUST 20, 2012

08:30 Coffee and welcome

09:00-12:30 Nancy Wallace, UC Berkeley - "The Energy Risk Exposure of Commercial Real Estate Lending"

Joseph Williams, Professors Capital - "Practical Applications of Academic Finance to Investments in Commercial Real Estate"

Coffee break

Dwight Jaffee, UC Berkeley - "Fundamental Lessons and Implications from the Subprime Mortgage Crisis"

12:30-14:00 Lunch

14:00-16:30 William Goetzmann, Yale University - "Early Mortgage Securitization and Real Estate Speculation"

Coffee break

Christopher Mayer, Columbia University - "Housing Bubbles"

16:30 Panel discussion: China, Spain, Sweden, and the US - Housing Bubbles or Just Extreme Fundamentals?

Panelists: Mei Jianping, CKGSB; Christopher Mayer, Columbia University; Peter Englund, Stockholm School of Economics; Jose Garcia-Montalvo, Universitat Pompeu Fabra; Peter Leimdorfer, Leimdorfer Partners

17:30 Concluding remarks

CONFERENCE PROGRAM, TUESDAY, AUGUST 21, 2012

08:30 Coffee

09:00-09:45 Joseph Williams, Professors Capital: "Hot and Cold Housing Markets"
Discussant: Jungsuk Han, Stockholm School of Economics

09:45-10:30 Joao Cocco, London Business School: "A Model of Mortgage Default"
Discussant: Roine Vestman, Stockholm University

10:30-11:00 Coffee

11:00-11:45 Morten Sorensen, Columbia University: "Estimating Loan-to-Value and Foreclosure Behavior"
Discussant: Mei Jianping, CKGSB

11:45-12:30 Giovanni Favara, International Monetary Fund - "Credit Supply and the Price of Housing"
Discussant: Augustin Landier, Toulouse School of Economics

12:30-13:30 Lunch

13:30-14:15 Itzhak Ben-David, Ohio State University - "Do Loan Officers' Incentives Lead to Lax Lending Standards?"
Discussant: Kasper Roszbach, Sveriges Riksbank

14:15-15:00 Andra Ghent, Arizona State University - "Did Affordable Housing Legislation Contribute to the Subprime Securities Boom?"
Discussant: Jose Garcia Montalvo, Universitat Pompeu Fabra

15:00 Closing of conference