In this paper, we review the German practice of imputing the costs of owner-occupied housing by increasing the relative weight of actual rents in the CPI. As the structure of owner-occupied housing differs substantially from that of rental housing, this variant of the imputation method may cause...

Wohnen wird – zumindest in einigen Städten – zum Luxusgut, bezahlbarer Wohnraum zur Mangelware. Die Wohnungsbaupolitik muss drastisch verändert werden. Sollte der soziale Wohnungsbau ausgebaut, die Mietpreisbremse verschärft werden oder – im Gegenteil – auf beides weitgehend...

The housing market is both large and complex. This paper develops a simple model that captures the essential features of the supply and demand for housing, and which is used to evaluate the impact of a range of policy interventions. Increases in the stock of housing would reduce rents and house...

At 34%, Switzerland has the lowest home ownership rate in Western Europe. This is a puzzle given the economic strength of the country. We use 1998 household survey data for five Swiss cantons to explore some possible reasons for this. We estimate a tenure choice equation that allows us to...

Under tenancy rent control, rents are regulated within a tenancy but not between tenancies. This paper investigates the effects of tenancy rent control on housing quality and maintenance. Since the discounted revenue received over a fixed-duration tenancy depends only on the starting rent,...

An enormous increase of initial rents in many German cities over the last decade has prompted the current grand coalition to implement a new rent control called "Mietpreisbremse" in 2015 (literally a brake on rental prices). This reform aims to stop exploding rents and to provide particularly...

This Working Paper studies ways to stimulate the private rental sector (PRS) of the housing market – and compares experiences with policies and reforms in Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and the Czech Republic. Although in many countries the PRS has decreased in importance since the Second...

Much of the nation has experienced steep declines in housing prices in recent years. In Manhattan, however, apartment sales prices did not fall as sharply. A study of price-rent ratios in the New York City borough concludes that, while apartment rents are driven by supply and demand forces,...

This paper examines urban residential location and rent determination within a city populated by consumers acting with perfect foresight. In this setting, the consumption and saving decisions of city residents are determined jointly with their choice of location, thereby offering an initial step...

Over the past two years, the cost of housing and community amenities has been growing at a moderate rate. Due to financial problems, one in every ten households delayed paying its bills, or paid them only in part. The volume of housing and community amenities payments in arrears remained the...