Panel:
Local Housing Markets: Quantity, Quality and Price
(Housing, Community Development, and Urban Policy)
Thursday, November 8, 2018: 1:45 PM-3:15 PM
Harding - Mezz Level (Marriott Wardman Park)
*Names in bold indicate Presenter
Panel Chairs: Meena Bavan, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
Discussants: Leah Brooks, George Washington University and Evan Mast, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research
As the U.S. has recovered from the Great Recession, many local housing markets across the county have experienced rising housing prices. To a certain extent, this is an indicator of economic health: metropolitan areas with growing populations and/or rising household incomes experience upwards pressure on housing prices/rents. However, many metro areas have seen housing prices rise faster than incomes, which is generally viewed as the sign of an imbalance between supply and demand. Some research points to restrictive land use regulations as a constraint on the amount of new development. Market factors, such as scarcity of skilled construction workers or difficulty in assembling large land parcels, can also lead to rapid housing price increases. In this panel, we consider economic and policy factors that influence local housing supply and affordability. Paper 1 investigates the relationship between increased housing density and single family home values. Paper 2 examines whether redeveloping older housing with newer buildings can increase both the quantity of supply and housing prices, focusing on Philadelphia. Paper 3 documents uneven spatial patterns of new housing construction and redevelopment in Washington DC. Paper 4 develops and tests a new dynamic framework to understand gentrification and uses this framework to study household migration in and out of neighborhoods.
