Topic Real Estate and Housing

Do immigrants prefer regions in which people are generally more open towards immigrants and immigration?

In my dissertation, I analyse the effect of migrant-open climate on immigrant location choice: Do immigrants prefer regions in which people are generally more open towards immigrants and immigration? I argue that to maximise well-being, immigrants reduce their risk of facing discrimination by choosing regions of residence in which migrant-open climate is higher.To capture revealed...

Construction industry momentum continues – state stimulus impacts prices

By Martin Gornig, Claus Michelsen, and Martin Bruns According to the German Institute for Economic Research construction volume forecast, the country’s construction industry will continue to flourish in the coming years. Companies can count on a rise in the nominal construction volume of around 7.5 percent in 2019 and 6.5 percent next year. The industry’s business cycle continues ...

Evaluierung der Wohnungsbauprämie: Endbericht – Executive Summary ; Forschungsvorhaben: fe 6/17 ; Studie im Auftrag des Bundesministeriums der Finanzen (BMF)

Rent Control, Market Segmentation, and Misallocation: Causal Evidence from a Large-Scale Policy Intervention

This paper studies market segmentation that arises from the introduction of a price ceiling in the market for rental housing. When part of the market faces rent control, theory predicts an increase of free-market rents, a consequence of misallocation of households to housing units. We study a large-scale policy intervention in the German housing market in 2015 to document this mechanism empirically. ...

Living Conditions and the Mental Health and Well-being of Refugees: Evidence from a Representative German Panel Study

The mental health and well-being of refugees are both prerequisites for and indicators of social integration. Using data from the first wave of a representative prospective panel of refugees living in Germany, we investigated how different living conditions, especially those subject to integration policies, are associated with experienced distress and life satisfaction in newly-arrived adult refugees. ...

Heat Monitor 2018: Rising Heating Energy Demand, Thermal Retrofit Rate Must Increase

Residential heating accounts for almost one-fifth of Germany’s final energy consumption. This report evaluates an extensive database of heating bills for buildings with two or more apartments, representing more than two-thirds of the total housing stock in Germany. Despite commitments to pressing climate targets, the rate of thermal upgrades of the existing housing stock has remained low since the ...

High Risk of a Housing Bubble in Germany and Most OECD Countries

Housing prices in many countries have increased significantly over the past years, fueling a fear that speculative price bubbles will return. However, it can be difficult for policymakers to recognize when regulatory interventions in the market are necessary to counteract bubbles. This report shows how modern machine learning methods can be used to forecast speculative price bubbles at an early stage. ...

The Effects of Second-Generation Rent Control on Land Values

Second generation rent control seeks to prevent negative quantity effects by exempting newly built units. The artificially lowered rent in the controlled segment makes renting attractive for households that would otherwise not have rented in the market, replacing households with higher willingness to pay for housing. These households bid up prices in the free market segment, giving rise to an opposite-sign ...

The Preservation of Historic Districts - Is It Worth It?

I investigate the welfare effect of conservation areas that preserve historic districts by regulating development. Such regulation may improve the quality of life but does so by reducing housing productivity—that is, the efficiency with which inputs (land and non-land) are converted into housing services. Using a unique panel dataset for English cities and an instrumental variable approach, I find ...

Coping with the Consequences of a Housing Crisis during the Great War: The Case of Right-Bank Ukraine in 1914-1918