The Global Housing Affordability Crisis: Policy Options and Strategies

Albert Saiz ()
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Albert Saiz: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

No 203, IZA Policy Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Housing prices are rising faster than incomes in many areas of the world, reducing well-being and engendering social discontent. Passivity by municipal and national governments is no longer an option. In this essay, I will describe the tradeoffs between different housing policy objectives of governments and the public. I suggest that policy goals should be made explicit, and their tradeoffs acknowledged. Due to the durable impact of real estate development, housing and land-use policies should seek broad inter-partisan consensus. To avoid pernicious general equilibrium effects and because of limited public resources, subsidies ought to be carefully targeted. I will describe the thirty major economic strategies underpinning housing policies worldwide and discuss their main advantages and caveats. Effective housing programs must skillfully deploy a combination of these basic economic strategies, as I will illustrate through several global case studies. Programs should be carefully designed to anticipate behavioral responses from individuals, firms, governments, and markets. Unideological and professional implementation is critical for their success.

Keywords: real earnings; housing and family income; social policy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H53 I38 R21 R31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 56 pages
Date: 2023-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-pbe and nep-ure
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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