A Comparative Analysis of Patented Technologies Supporting Mortgage and Housing Finance

Abstract

In this work, we create new datasets on mortgage technology and housing finance technology patents to support analysis of, innovation in, and trends in housing technology. We use them to summarize findings of general interest on the volume, location and ownership of different housing technology groups and types of patents over time, innovative trends, and policy approaches across countries. In contrast to housing production, through mortgage finance and associated governmental interventions, we find housing consumption outside of what is rented. We also find a fertility pattern of rapid initial growth, followed by the inevitable bursting of a bubble in most countries globally, and perhaps especially China, is evident in housing finance patenting.

We compare how mortgage technology innovation has interacted with housing booms and busts in China and the United States. The two countries differ in that patenting is more concentrated in and driven by government funded or funded and subsidized organizations in China than in the United States, which, through more market plumbing and of higher general design quality over a longer period, has rapid and continuous recovery driven by more decentralized patenting. While we find trends in patenting might help support understanding of future trends, we are cautious about their predictive powers, especially for non-mortgage technologies, because the underlying economic choices that drive patenting activity may differ over time, space, and technology types. Finally, we look to the future for patenting activity by identifying mortgage and housing finance technology classes with few patent observations to guide research and policy support.