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Transaction Taxes, Capital Gains Taxes and House Prices

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  • Nicole Aregger
  • Martin Brown
  • Dr. Enzo Rossi

Abstract

Motivated by the search for instruments to contain future housing bubbles, we examine the impact of transaction taxes and capital gains taxes on residential house price growth. We exploit the variation in taxation across Swiss cantons, as well as within-canton changes in taxation over time. We relate these taxes to house price growth observed for 92 regions of the country during the period 1985 - 2009. Our results suggest that higher taxes on capital gains exacerbate house price dynamics while transaction taxes have no impact on house price growth. These findings support the existence of a lock-in effect of capital gains taxes on housing supply. They further suggest that taxes on real estate capital gains and transaction values are not suitable measures to prevent excessive house price growth.

Suggested Citation

  • Nicole Aregger & Martin Brown & Dr. Enzo Rossi, 2013. "Transaction Taxes, Capital Gains Taxes and House Prices," Working Papers 2013-02, Swiss National Bank.
    • Handle: RePEc:snb:snbwpa:2013-02
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    1. How to contain housing bubbles
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2013-04-26 18:26:00

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    13. Jed Armstrong & Hayden Skilling & Fang Yao, 2018. "Loan-to-Value Ratio Restrictions and House Prices," Reserve Bank of New Zealand Discussion Paper Series DP2018/05, Reserve Bank of New Zealand.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    House prices; Transaction tax; Capital gains tax; Macroprudential policy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • E32 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Business Fluctuations; Cycles
    • H24 - Public Economics - - Taxation, Subsidies, and Revenue - - - Personal Income and Other Nonbusiness Taxes and Subsidies
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand

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