This paper investigates the relationship between strategic default in the US residential mortgage market and household portfolio composition after the Great Recession in 2007. Following the definition of strategic default proposed by Gerardi et al. (2018), we find that in addition to the well-known ‘Double Triggers’ of negative equity and payment ability, households’ portfolio composition can also affect their strategic default decision. Holding a larger amount of non housing durable assets increases the probability of strategic default, while owning more liquid assets can reduce the probability of default through two potential channels: portfolio rebalancing and relative cost of default.
Marcato, Gianluca, Shotaro Wantanabe, and Bing Zhu. "The Third Trigger of Strategic Default : Households’ Portfolio Composition." In IRES (virtual) Symposium for Doctoral Students. IRES. International Real Estate Society, 2020.
Keywords: Strategic Default, Negative Equity, Mortgage, Household portfolio choice and Household Finance