Using the regression discontinuity design, a quasi-experiment approach, this paper establishes a causal relationship between the down payment requirement and house prices by exploiting a unique institutional background in Shanghai. In the unique setting, the required minimal down payment ratio jumps at the Inner Ring, a circular elevated highway, from 50% to 70% for a large group of buyers. With transaction level data from the largest real estate broker in Shanghai, we find that a lower required down payment ratio increases the apartment price by 138.8 thousand RMB, around 3.71% of the average transaction price.

中文翻译：

---

首付要求与房价：来自上海的准实验证据

本文利用上海独特的制度背景，采用断点回归设计这种准实验方法，建立了首付要求与房价之间的因果关系。在独特的环境下，对于大量买家来说，内环线（一条环形高架高速公路）所需的最低首付比例从 50% 跃升至 70%。根据上海最大房产经纪商的交易层面数据，我们发现，较低的首付比例使公寓价格增加了13.88万元，约为成交均价的3.71%。