Why Has House Price Dispersion Gone Up?

53 Pages Posted: 10 Aug 2006

See all articles by Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh

Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh

Columbia University Graduate School of Business; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER); Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR); ABFER

Pierre-Olivier Weill

University of California, Los Angeles; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Multiple version iconThere are 3 versions of this paper

Date Written: August 2006

Abstract

We investigate the 30-year increase in the level and dispersion of house prices across U.S. metropolitan areas in a calibrated dynamic general equilibrium island model. The model is based on two main assumptions: households flow in and out of metropolitan areas in response to local wage shocks, and the housing supply cannot adjust instantly because of regulatory constraints. Feeding in our model the 30-year increase in cross-sectional wage dispersion that we document based on metropolitan-level data, we generate the observed increase in house price level and dispersion. In equilibrium, workers flow towards exceptionally productive metropolitan areas and drive house prices up. The calibration also reveals that, while a baseline level of regulation is important, a tightening of regulation by itself cannot account for the increase in house price level and dispersion: in equilibrium, workers flow out of tightly regulated metropolitan areas towards less regulated areas, undoing most of the price impact of additional local supply regulations. Finally, the calibration with increasing wage dispersion suggests that the welfare effects of housing supply regulation are large.

Keywords: house price, income inequality, supply regulation

JEL Classification: R13, R21, R31, R52, J61, E60

Suggested Citation

Van Nieuwerburgh, Stijn and Weill, Pierre-Olivier, Why Has House Price Dispersion Gone Up? (August 2006). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=923472 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.923472

Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh (Contact Author)

Columbia University Graduate School of Business ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Centre for Economic Policy Research (CEPR)

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Pierre-Olivier Weill

University of California, Los Angeles ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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