Speculators and Middlemen: The Strategy and Performance of Investors in the Housing Market
Housing market transactions are a matter of public record and thus provide a rare opportunity to analyze the behavior, performance, and strategies of individual investors. Using data for all housing transactions in the Los Angeles area from 1988-2009, this paper provides empirical evidence on investor behavior that is consistent with several rationales for speculative investment in the finance literature, including the roles of middlemen and naïve speculators. Speculative activity by novice investors increased sharply in the recent housing boom. These investors earned little more than the market rate of appreciation and demonstrated no ability to foresee market price movements.
Published Versions
Patrick Bayer & Christopher Geissler & Kyle Mangum & James W Roberts & Andrew Karolyi, 2020. "Speculators and Middlemen: The Strategy and Performance of Investors in the Housing Market," The Review of Financial Studies, vol 33(11), pages 5212-5247. citation courtesy of 
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