This paper analyzes how the dynamics of house prices are affected by the option to rebuild or enlarge existing dwellings. The curvature of option value and zoning limits provide identification of changes in option value over the cycle. For West Berlin homes with high development potential, our...

The paper investigates the long run historic development of the Amsterdam rental housing market (1550-1850). Using rent data on a large cross section of residential properties in Amsterdam we are able to develop an annual constant-quality rent index for the entire time period. Whereas nominal...

How do housing rents, quality and affordability evolve when cities grow over time? This paper studies urban housing markets for half a millennium (1500–2017) for Amsterdam, Antwerp, Bruges, Brussels, Ghent, London, and Paris. Based on a dataset of 436,000 rent observations, we build new...