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Why is Manhattan So Expensive? Regulation and the Rise in House Prices

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Author Info
Edward L. Glaeser
Joseph Gyourko
Raven Saks

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Abstract

In Manhattan and elsewhere, housing prices have soared over the 1990s. Rising incomes, lower interest rates, and other factors can explain the demand side of this increase, but some sluggishness on the supply of apartment buildings also is needed to account for the high and rising prices. In a market dominated by high rises, the marginal cost of supplying more space is reflected in the cost of adding an extra floor to any new building. Home building is a highly competitive industry with almost no natural barriers to entry, yet prices in Manhattan currently appear to be more than twice their supply costs. We argue that land use restrictions are the natural explanation of this gap. We also present evidence consistent with our hypothesis that regulation is constraining the supply of housing so that increased demand leads to much higher prices, not many more units, in a number of other high price housing markets across the country.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 10124.

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Date of creation: Nov 2003
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10124

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R0 - Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics - - General

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References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Ciccone, Antonio & Hall, Robert E, 1996. "Productivity and the Density of Economic Activity," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 86(1), pages 54-70, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  2. Benson, Earl D, et al, 1998. "Pricing Residential Amenities: The Value of a View," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(1), pages 55-73, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. James M. Poterba, 1983. "Tax Subsidies to Owner-occupied Housing: An Asset Market Approach," Working papers 339, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Department of Economics.
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  4. Edward L. Glaeser & Joseph Gyourko, 2002. "The Impact of Zoning on Housing Affordability," Harvard Institute of Economic Research Working Papers 1948, Harvard - Institute of Economic Research. [Downloadable!]
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  5. Early, Dirk W. & Olsen, Edgar O., 1998. "Rent control and homelessness," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 797-816, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Goodman, John Jr. & Ittner, John B., 1992. "The accuracy of home owners' estimates of house value," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(4), pages 339-357, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Glaeser, Edward L & Mare, David C, 2001. "Cities and Skills," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(2), pages 316-42, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Hamilton, Bruce W., 1978. "Zoning and the exercise of monopoly power," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 116-130, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Linneman, Peter, 1987. "The effect of rent control on the distribution of income among New York City renters," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 14-34, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Gyourko, Joseph & Linneman, Peter, 1989. "Equity and efficiency aspects of rent control: An empirical study of New York City," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 54-74, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Katz, Lawrence & Rosen, Kenneth T, 1987. "The Interjurisdictional Effects of Growth Controls on Housing Prices," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 30(1), pages 149-60, April.
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Krupka, Douglas J., 2008. "On Amenities, Natural Advantage and Agglomeration," IZA Discussion Papers 3598, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  2. Arthur Grimes & Andrew Aitken, 2005. "What’s the Beef with House Prices? Economic Shocks and Local Housing Markets," Urban/Regional 0509011, EconWPA. [Downloadable!]
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  3. Fu, Shihe, 2008. "Sexual orientation and neighborhood quality: Do same-sex couples make better communities?," MPRA Paper 7678, University Library of Munich, Germany. [Downloadable!]
  4. Rose Cunningham & Ilan Kolet, 2007. "Housing Market Cycles and Duration Dependence in the United States and Canada," Working Papers 07-2, Bank of Canada. [Downloadable!]
  5. Saku Aura & Thomas Davidoff, 2006. "Supply Constraints and Housing Prices," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  6. Arthur Grimes & Suzi Kerr & Andrew Aitken, 2004. "Bi-Directions Impacts of Economic, Social and Environmental Changes and the New Zealand Housing Market," Working Papers 04_09, Motu Economic and Public Policy Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. Edward L. Glaeser & Joseph Gyourko & Raven Saks, 2005. "Why Have Housing Prices Gone Up?," NBER Working Papers 11129, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  8. Edward L. Glaeser & Joseph Gyourko & Raven E. Saks, 2005. "Urban Growth and Housing Supply," NBER Working Papers 11097, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Hilber, Christian A. L., 2007. "New Housing Supply and the Dilution of Social Capital," MPRA Paper 11620, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 14 Nov 2008. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Paul Dolan & Robert Metcalfe, 2008. "Comparing Willingness-to-Pay and Subjective Well-Being in the Context of Non-Market Goods," CEP Discussion Papers dp0890, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  11. Min Hwang & John Quigley, 2006. "Economic Fundamentals in Local Housing Markets: Evidence from U.S. Metropolitan Regions," Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy, Working Paper Series 1050, Berkeley Program on Housing and Urban Policy. [Downloadable!]
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  12. Balázs Égert, 2007. "Real Convergence, Price Level Convergence and Inflation Differentials in Europe," Working Papers 138, Oesterreichische Nationalbank (Austrian Central Bank). [Downloadable!]
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  13. François Ortalo-Magné & Andrea Prat, 2005. "The Political Economy of Housing Supply," Levine's Bibliography 122247000000000954, UCLA Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  14. Joseph Gyourko & Christopher Mayer & Todd Sinai, 2006. "Superstar Cities," NBER Working Papers 12355, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Christophe Blot, 2006. "Peut-on parler de bulle sur le marché immobilier au Luxembourg ?," BCL working papers 20, Central Bank of Luxembourg. [Downloadable!]
  16. Douglas J. Krupka & Kwame Donaldson, 2007. "Wages, Rents and Heterogeneous Moving Costs," IZA Discussion Papers 3224, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  17. Christian Hilber & Frédéric Robert-Nicoud, 2006. "Owners of Developed Land versus Owners of Undeveloped Land: Why Land Use is More Constrained in the Bay Area than in Pittsburgh," CEP Discussion Papers dp0760, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE. [Downloadable!]
  18. Edward L. Glaeser & Matthew E. Kahn, 2008. "The Greenness of Cities: Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Urban Development," NBER Working Papers 14238, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  19. Frederic S. Mishkin, 2007. "Housing and the monetary transmission mechanism," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, pages 359-413. [Downloadable!]
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