Financial Depth and the Real Estate Market: An Empirical Study of the Wealth Effect

Abstract

The study uses the wealth effect to investigate the impact of financial depth on the real estate market. More specifically, financial depth is used to measure the size of the banking system and stock market in relation to the economy. As data were collected in Vietnam—an emerging country with a limited financial depth and an emerging real estate market—the study is expected to reveal many notable findings. The author employs the Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach, which generates reliable results, even with the data observation restrictions that are a typical feature of data analysis in emerging countries. The results show that the effect of financial depth, which is observed from the perspective of the banking sector and the real estate market, can be clearly demonstrated through the wealth effect and its significance in the short- and long-term. On the other hand, the significant impact of financial depth on the real estate market from the perspective of the stock market has not yet be found. The findings reveal a significant difference in the wealth effect between Vietnam and other developed countries. This is the first study to present empirical evidence for the impact of financial depth on the real estate market in an emerging country using the wealth effect. Therefore, the results of this study are essential, not only for Vietnam, but for all emerging countries.