Susan M. Wachter Faculty Profile

Susan M. Wachter
Richard B. Worley Professor of Financial Management; Professor of Real Estate, Finance and City and Regional Planning

PhD, Boston College, 1974; BA, Harvard College, 1965

Research Areas
Real estate economics; urban economics; housing finance

Recent Consulting
Real Estate Markets - Jones Lang LaSalle, 2007–present; Mortgage Insurance Markets - GE Financial, 2005-present; Housing Markets - Prudential REALTORS, 2005-2007

Current Projects
Modeling default and delinquency; tenure choice and homeownership affordability; real estate price index methodologies; modeling neighborhood change

Academic Positions Held
Wharton: 1972-present (named Richard B. Worley Professor of Financial Management, 2003; Chairperson, Real Estate Department, 1997-2000; Director, Wharton Geographical Information Systems Lab, 1995-present). University of Pennsylvania: (Co-director of Penn Institute for Urban Research, 2004-Present; Professor of City and Regional Planning, 1995-present; Ombudsman, 1987-90). Previous appointment: Bryn Mawr College. Visiting appointment: Singapore Management University (Celia Moh Visiting Professor, 2004)

Career and Recent Professional Awards; Teaching Awards
American Real Estate and Urban Economics Lifetime Achievement Award 2005; American Real Estate and Urban Economics Best International Paper Award 1995; Undergraduate Division Excellence in Teaching Award, 1991; Lindback Award for Distinguished Teaching, University of Pennsylvania, 1975; Anvil Award for Teaching Excellence, 1974

Professional Leadership 2005-2009
Board of Editors, Journal of Housing Economics, 2003-present; Board of Editors, Housing Policy Debate, 2003-present; Board of Editors, Journal of Real Estate and Finance, 2003-present; Board of Editors, Journal of Real Estate Research, 2004-present; Board of Editors, Journal of Housing Research, 2006; Homer Hoyt Institute Faculty Fellow, 2003-present

Corporate and Public Sector Leadership 2005-2009
Global Urban Development Advisory Board; National Research Council Review Board on HUD Research 2008; Advisory Board for Regulatory Research, National Association of Homebuilders, 2005-2006; Board of Directors, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, 2003-2006; Blue Ribbon Committee on Housing Finance, 2005-2006

Representative Publications
(with Andrey Pavlov)
“Mortgage Put Options and Real Estate Markets.” Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics (Forthcoming 2008).

(with Andrey Pavlov)
“The Inevitability of Market-Wide Underpriced Risk.” Real Estate Economics (Vol. 34, No. 4 (2006).

(with Richard Green)
"The American Mortgage in Historical and International Context." Journal of Economic Perspectives Vol. 19, No. 4 (2005).