With the discussion today comparing stocks versus real estate, its worth taking another look at a research paper from a few years ago: Comparing wealth effects: the stock market versus the housing market [Note: PDF] written by professors Case, Quigley & Shiller. In their abstract they state:

>We find a statistically significant and rather large effect of
>housing wealth upon household consumption.

[The wealth effect](http://www.investopedia.com/terms/w/wealtheffect.asp) is defined as:

>The premise that when the value of stock portfolios rises
> due to escalating stock prices, investors feel more comfortable
> and secure about their wealth, causing them to spend more.

The impact on consumer spending is more than double when tied to the value of their home rather than their stock portfolio. This has broad implications for the economy and is likely of significant concern to the Federal Reserve in their recent policy of reigning in the threat of inflation.