Are there bubbles in the housing market of Namibia?: An analysis of historical evidence

Abstract

The dividend yield ratio in the stock markets is, to an extent, comparable to the rent price ratio in the housing market. Taking advantage of this definitional similarity, one can then use the traditional unit root test for log dividend yield in this case, the log rent-price ratio to test for the existence of real estate bubbles. Such unit root tests are conducted for the whole of Namibia. We develop a continuous and monthly rent price information-based method to track the periods when real estate prices diverge from their fundamental levels. The effect of those investigations would suggest the existence of pockets of bubbles in the real estate market. We finally get to distinguish of the pockets of bubbles observed, which minor, intermediate and major bubbles are.