The Economics of Housing

Housing is an important commodity in the national accounts of all countries and has generated a high quality specialised literature. The papers in this scholarly collection span a thirty-five year period from 1960 when the field of housing economics was just beginning to attract attention. Topics covered include housing and urban spatial structures, housing supply, the analysis of housing demand and empirical and theoretical studies of housing quality and prices. One of the features which complicates economic analysis of housing is the severe regulation of the housing and land markets; the implications of such controls, including rent control, local taxes and housing subsidies are investigated, as are the effects of property taxes and the provision of public services on housing choice. The articles in the final section cover recent research on the linkage between housing markets and financial markets, a subject which is currently of intense interest to economists in this field.