Monetary Policy in Times of Debt

We model an economy with long-term mortgages and show that some characteristics of mortgage contracts – such as the type of interest rate (adjustable versus fixed) and the loan-to-value ratio – matter for the transmission of monetary policy impulses, both conventional and unconventional. A conventional monetary policy shock has a stronger impact on output and inflation with adjustable-rate mortgages, also reflecting the higher sensitivity of installments to changes in the short-term rate. When households borrow at a fixed rate, unconventional monetary policy can stimulate the economy mainly through a redistribution of income from savers to borrowers, who have a higher marginal propensity to consume. The impact of monetary policy – both conventional and unconventional – is stronger when the level of households' mortgage debt is high relative to housing wealth.