avatar

Lei Ma

Ph.D. Student
Boston University
leim (at) bu.edu


About Me

I am a 5th-year Ph.D. student in Economics at Boston University. My research interests include real estate, industrial organization, and household finance. I study the behaviors of households, real estate developers, and investors in the housing markets using empirical and structural methods. I received a B.A. in Economics from the University of Minnesota and an M.A. from the University of Chicago.

Research

  1. Build what and where? The distributional impact of construction (Job market paper)

  2. Racial disparities in home selling
    with Leonel Diego Drukker Draft
    In this study, we investigate the financial disparities faced by black sellers in the US housing market. Using repeat-sale transactions from 2003 to 2020, we document that black sellers earn, on average, 0.36% lower annualized unlevered returns on their property sales compared to non-black sellers, when selling comparable properties at the same time in the same neighborhood. We find that the racial disparities in housing returns are not explained by seller characteristics, property renovations, the race of the buyer, seller agent fixed effects, and appraisal measures. However, controlling for listing prices and time on market reduces the racial gap to effectively zero. This suggests that black sellers face higher search frictions, which leads to worse selling outcomes.

  3. When Institutional Investors Come To Town: The Local Effects of Buy-to-Rent Properties
    (Draft coming soon!)
    Since 2012, institutional buy-to-rent (B2R) investors have entered the single-family rental market, converting a substantial number of homes into rental properties. This study examines the impact of B2R investors on local housing markets, providing reduced-form evidence on the size and origin of spillover effects resulting from their presence. An additional property by B2R investors within 150 meters increases housing price growth by 2-3%. The impact is stronger in neighborhoods with a black majority and lower property values. The local spillover effects are mostly driven by positive amenity and diminishing supply channels.

  4. Happy at home or stuck in place? The determinants of declining local residential mobility
    The local residential move rate has declined by 50 percent over the past 35 years, but little is known about the underlying factors driving the long-run decline. This paper begins by examining the impact of demographic shifts on local moving trends. I find that changes in age, homeownership, race, income and marital status can explain approximately 25 percent of the overall decline. Then I explore two key mechanisms contributing to the long-term decline. Using an instrumental variable approach, I evaluate the causal impact of family life events and housing costs on local moves. The results indicate that the decrease in marriage rates accounts for at least 30 percent of the move rate decline, while rising rents have significantly lowered the mobility of renters in the last 15 years. These findings imply that the overall decline in local moves is primarily attributed to the diminishing benefits associated with relocations, but it is evident that rising housing costs are increasingly trapping renters in place.

  5. The impact of parenthood on the financial wellbeing of families
    with Vickie Wang and Letian Yin

Teaching

Service