The aggregate contribution of housing to GDP is typically 15-18%, and it occurs in two ways:
- Residential investment (approximately 3-5 percent of GDP), which comprises new single-family and multifamily constructions, residential remodeling, prefabricated home production, and brokerage fees.
- Renters’ gross rents and utilities, as well as owners’ imputed rents and utility payments, account for around 12-13 percent of GDP in consumption spending on housing services.
In national income accounting, including owners’ imputed rent (an estimate of how much it would cost to rent owner-occupied units) in GDP has long been normal practice. An increase in the homeownership rate would lead GDP to fall if owners’ imputed rent was not taken into account.
In the annual GDP figures, housing accounts for both investment and consumption, as seen in the table below. All GDP components are adjusted for inflation and reflect the categories in the US Bureau of Economic Analysis’ GDP figures. Because of BEA’s mid-2009 adjustments to the consumption categories, some of the statistics may differ from previously reported results.
Note: Estimates were based on 2012 chain-weighted dollars for a period prior to December 2020. For the GDP items used in measuring housing’s percentage of GDP, nominal estimates allow a better line-to-line comparison.
Do dwellings count as GDP investments?
The gross domestic product (GDP) is a broad measure of a country’s output. It must cover some items and services that are not exchanged in the market place in order to be comprehensive. These components of GDP are referred to as imputations. Owner-occupied housing services, free financial services, and the treatment of employer-provided health insurance are only a few examples.
Imputations are estimates of the price and quantity that a good or service would fetch if it were traded in the open market. The imputation used to approximate the value of services delivered by owner-occupied dwellings is the largest in the GDP accounts. This imputation is made so that the GDP treatment of owner-occupied housing is equivalent to the treatment of tenant-occupied housing, which is valued based on the amount of rent paid. This method ensures that GDP is unaffected by whether a home is owned or rented. The acquisition of a new house is viewed as an investment in the GDP; home ownership is treated as a productive activity; and a service is supposed to flow from the house to the occupant during the course of the house’s economic life. The value of that service to the homeowner is determined by the amount of money the homeowner could have made if the residence had been rented to a renter.
Another key imputation evaluates the value of financial services supplied by banks and other financial institutions for free or for a little price that does not reflect the full value of the service. Checking account maintenance and borrowers’ services are two examples. The difference between the interest paid by the bank and the interest that the depositor could have earned by investing in “secure” government assets is referred to as “imputed interest” by the depositor. The difference between the interest charged by the bank and the interest the bank could have received by investing in such government securities is calculated for the borrower.
The GDP accounts redirect certain transactions so that consumption is ascribed to the eventual recipient of the commodity or service rather than the payment, in addition to imputations for nonmarket transactions. Health care, for example, is usually covered by private health insurance (typically provided by the employer), government insurance schemes like Medicare and Medicaid, or consumer out-of-pocket payments for deductibles, copayments, and uninsured charges. These health-care transactions are diverted to personal consumption expenditures in the GDP, reflecting the role of households as final consumers of those health goods and services.
The shares of GDP accounted for by some imputations have risen since the mid-1990s, as the activities measured have grown faster than other activities.
- The share of GDP accounted for by imputation for owner-occupied homes increased from 6.0 percent to 6.2 percent between 1996 and 2006.
- Employer contributions for private health and life insurance increased from 3.2 percent of GDP to 4.2 percent of GDP between 1996 and 2006.
- The share of total imputations in GDP increased from 13.8 percent to 14.8 percent between 1996 and 2006.
- Imputed financial services accounted for 1.7 percent of GDP in 2006, the same as in 1996.
The GDP story is incomplete and potentially misleading without imputations. For example, between 1998 and 2006, personal consumption expenditures for medical care, which are largely funded by government or employer-provided health insurance, increased from 10.5 percent to 12.0 percent of GDP, while the share of people employed in the private health care and social assistance industry (full-time equivalent employment plus the number of self-employed) increased from 9.4 percent to 10.8 percent of total employment. The growth in GDP for health services would not have been accurately associated with the growth in employment if there had been no imputations or redirections reflecting the growth coming from government and employer-provided health insurance.
What are the components of GDP?
The external balance of trade is the most essential of all the components that make up a country’s GDP. When the total value of products and services sold by local producers to foreign countries surpasses the total value of foreign goods and services purchased by domestic consumers, a country’s GDP rises. A country is said to have a trade surplus when this happens.
What is GDP made up of?
GDP is made up of commodities and services produced for market sale as well as certain nonmarket production, such as government-provided defense and education services. Gross national product, or GNP, is a different notion that counts all of a country’s people’ output.
Is rent factored into the GDP?
Rental income of individuals is the landlord’s net income from current output for tenant-occupied property. It’s estimated by subtracting the output of housing services (space rent) from related expenses including depreciation, maintenance and repairs, property taxes, and mortgage interest.
Owner-occupied property is treated as if it were a rental business in the national income and product accounts. That is, BEA assigns a value to owner-occupied housing services (space rent) based on rents charged for similar tenant-occupied homes, and this value is included in GDP as part of personal consumption expenditures. Similarly, expenses associated with owner-occupied properties, such as depreciation, maintenance and repairs, property taxes, and mortgage interest, are deducted from imputed services to determine the worth of a person’s rental income. This imputation is required in order for GDP to remain constant as housing units switch from tenant to owner occupancy.
Table 7.9 provides detailed information on people’s rental income; table 7.4.5 shows the relationship between housing services and rental income; and lines 133-140 of table 7.12 indicate the imputation of owner-occupied homes.
What role does real estate have in GDP?
The real estate sector’s contribution to India’s GDP is predicted to be between 6.5 and 7%, and the sector is expected to provide millions of jobs.
Are mortgage payments counted as part of GDP?
In the national income and product accounts, housing services are a component of personal consumption expenditures (PCE), and thus part of GDP (NIPAs).