[...]In this paper, after first surveying housing costs in theUnited States, we examine why the expensive places have suchhigh housing costs. High-cost places generally have either veryattractive local amenities (great weather or good schools) orstrong labor markets. The Rosen (1979) and Roback...

"Like many other assets, housing prices are quite volatile relative to observable changes in fundamentals. If we are going to understand boom-bust housing cycles, we must incorporate housing supply. In this paper, we present a simple model of housing bubbles that predicts that places with more...

"Between 1996 and 2006, real housing prices rose by 53 percent according to the Federal Housing Finance Agency price index. One explanation of this boom is that it was caused by easy credit in the form of low real interest rates, high loan-to-value levels and permissive mortgage approvals. We...