Housing Economics

Access to adequate accommodation, at an appropriate price and location, is central to life chances and social participation. Housing is the single largest investment that many households make, and housing choices fundamentally affect the distribution of wealth, social mobility and intergenerational transfer. Recent events have demonstrated that volatility and instability in housing markets can have dramatic consequences for the wider economy and that governments have an important role to play in shaping how housing markets operate.

Housing Economics focuses upon contemporary developments and the cutting edge of research in the field although some reference to classic studies is also made. Part I considers core topics in the microeconomics of housing markets, such as the determinants of housing demand, tenure choice and housing market search behavior. Part II looks at the mechanisms for financing housing consumption. It considers the regulation and reform of the mortgage market. The second part of the volume considers house price dynamics, in particular attempts to understand whether housing markets can experience bubbles and, if so, what happens when such bubbles deflate. Part III recognizes the many ways in which housing markets are connected with other aspects of society and the economy and illustrates these important interconnections. Part IV addresses two distinct topics. First, it considers the varying role of government in the housing market: tax and subsidy; direct provision and regulation. Second, the volume includes a selection of papers that one, seek to step back from the analysis of specific housing market phenomenon and consider the way in which housing economists approach market analysis or two, illustrate the diversity of approaches to the economic analysis of housing.