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Housing markets in a pandemic: Evidence from historical outbreaks

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  • Francke, Marc
  • Korevaar, Matthijs

Abstract

How do pandemics affect urban housing markets? This paper studies historical outbreaks of the plague in 17th-century Amsterdam and cholera in 19th-century Paris to answer this question. Based on micro-level transaction data, we show outbreaks resulted in large declines in house prices, and smaller declines in rent prices. We find particularly large reductions in house prices during the first six months of an epidemic, and in heavily-affected areas. However, these price shocks were only transitory, and both cities quickly reverted to their initial price paths. Our findings suggest these two cities were very resilient to major shocks originating from epidemics.

Suggested Citation

  • Francke, Marc & Korevaar, Matthijs, 2021. "Housing markets in a pandemic: Evidence from historical outbreaks," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:juecon:v:123:y:2021:i:c:s0094119021000152
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jue.2021.103333
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pandemics; Housing markets; Asset prices; Mortality; Urban shocks;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • G10 - Financial Economics - - General Financial Markets - - - General (includes Measurement and Data)
    • I19 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Other
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General
    • N93 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • R39 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Real Estate Markets, Spatial Production Analysis, and Firm Location - - - Other

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