Mastering the metropolis through research and thought leadership.
Working Papers

Housing Supply Restrictions Across the United States

Working paper #498
Raven E. Saks

Across the United States, there are a large number of local government regulations that have an effect on residential construction and the supply of housing. As the severity of these regulations varies across geographic locations, new residential construction is much more responsive to demand conditions in some areas as opposed to others. Because areas with stricter housing supply regulations cannot accommodate shocks to labor demand, the amount of new construction can impose limits on labor migration. The author investigates the effect of housing markets on local economic performance by estimating the elasticity of housing supply for individual metropolitan areas. These estimates reflect the degree of constraint on residential construction that is imposed by local government regulations. As a result of these regulations, places with a low elasticity of housing supply have experienced less migration and lower employment growth rates during the past two decades.

Download full paper · 1MB PDF


In This Section
Explore Topics

1010 Affordable Housing Amazon Amenitization Architecture Artificial Intelligence Asia Australia automation Autonomous Vehicles bonds Borrowing Constraints Brexit California Canada Capital Business China Co-Working Environment coastal markets cold storage Colombia Commercial Brokerage Commercial Real Estate commissions Congestion consumer bias covid-19 CRE credit card market Credit Default Swaps Credit Insurance Credit Risk Transfers Culture Data Analytics data centers Data Collection Technology Debt Market Demand Demographics Density Development Discrete Choice disruption Diversity drones e-Commerce Economic Corridors economic policy economics education election studies Equity Funds Equity Market Ethnic Factors Europe Fannie Mae financial asset management Foreclosures Foreign Policy France Freddie Mac general equilibrium Global global economy Global Financial Crisis Globalization great depression Great Recession healthy buildings Hedonic hospitality Housing & Residential housing boom Housing Disease housing prices Housing Supply Identity Income Inequality India inflation Inter-generational mobility interest rates Investing jobs labor market Lagging Regions land use regulation Language life sciences Macroeconomics malls Market Pricing megacities Microeconomics Migration Minimum Payments Mixed-Use Mobility moral hazard mortgage insurance mortgage market Mortgage Rates Mortgages Multi-family Nation Building Non-Traditional Mortgages Office Market office sector pension funds Placed Based Policies Political Risk Price Discovery Private Equity Business public health public policy Public Schools real estate brokerage Real Estate Investment Real Estate Investment Trusts Recession Rental Retail Retirement reverse mortgages Risk Adjustment risk management risk-shifting robotics single family housing Slums Sorting South America Spatial Regions spillover effect stimulus package Sub-Prime Mortgages Supply Chains Sustainability Technology telecommunications trade transportation unemployment United States Urban Urbanization Warehouse welfare work from home

arrow_drop_up