IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/tin/wpaper/20220042.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Property transfer taxes, residential mobility, and welfare

Author

Listed:
  • Daniel Jonas Schmidt

    (University of Amsterdam)

Abstract

In this paper, I develop an overlapping generations model to analyze the effects of property transfer taxes on homeownership, residential mobility, and welfare in the Netherlands. A revenue-neutral abolition of the 2% transfer tax increases the likelihood that homeowners sell their old house and buy a new one by about 40%. It also leads to a rise of the homeownership rate by 1-5 percentage points (depending on how revenue neutrality is achieved). Newborns prefer to live in an economy without property transfer taxes if the forgone tax revenues are replaced with higher annual property taxes, but not if revenue neutrality is achieved with higher income taxes. I also consider a partial reform that only exempts young first-time homebuyers from the transfer tax and is financed with higher annual property taxes. The resulting welfare gains are approximately one half of the welfare gains from the complete reform.

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Jonas Schmidt, "undated". "Property transfer taxes, residential mobility, and welfare," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 22-042/VI, Tinbergen Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20220042
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://papers.tinbergen.nl/22042.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yunho Cho & Shuyun May Li & Lawrence Uren, 2021. "Stamping out stamp duty: Property or consumption taxes?," CAMA Working Papers 2021-01, Centre for Applied Macroeconomic Analysis, Crawford School of Public Policy, The Australian National University.
    2. Jesus Fernández-Villaverde & Dirk Krueger, 2007. "Consumption over the Life Cycle: Facts from Consumer Expenditure Survey Data," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 89(3), pages 552-565, August.
    3. Jonas D. M. Fisher & Martin Gervais, 2011. "Why Has Home Ownership Fallen Among The Young?," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 52(3), pages 883-912, August.
    4. Hilber, Christian A.L. & Lyytikäinen, Teemu, 2017. "Transfer taxes and household mobility: Distortion on the housing or labor market?," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 57-73.
    5. (IFS), Institute for Fiscal Studies & Mirrlees, James (ed.), 2011. "Tax By Design: The Mirrlees Review," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199553747, Decembrie.
    6. Fritzsche, Carolin & Vandrei, Lars, 2019. "The German real estate transfer tax: Evidence for single-family home transactions," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 131-143.
    7. Besley, Timothy & Meads, Neil & Surico, Paolo, 2014. "The incidence of transaction taxes: Evidence from a stamp duty holiday," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 119(C), pages 61-70.
    8. Jonathan Heathcote & Kjetil Storesletten & Giovanni L. Violante, 2017. "Optimal Tax Progressivity: An Analytical Framework," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 132(4), pages 1693-1754.
    9. Piazzesi, Monika & Schneider, Martin & Tuzel, Selale, 2007. "Housing, consumption and asset pricing," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 83(3), pages 531-569, March.
    10. Fang Yang, 2009. "Consumption over the Life Cycle: How Different is Housing?," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 12(3), pages 423-443, July.
    11. Jos Van Ommeren & Michiel Van Leuvensteijn, 2005. "New Evidence of the Effect of Transaction Costs on Residential Mobility," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(4), pages 681-702, November.
    12. Lyytikäinen, Teemu & Hilber, Christian A. L., 2013. "Housing transfer taxes and household mobility: Distortion on the housing or labour market?," Working Papers 47, VATT Institute for Economic Research.
    13. Wenli Li & Rui Yao, 2007. "The Life‐Cycle Effects of House Price Changes," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(6), pages 1375-1409, September.
    14. Christian A. L. Hilber & Teemu Lyytikäinen, 2012. "The Effect of the UK Stamp Duty Land Tax on Household Mobility," SERC Discussion Papers 0115, Centre for Economic Performance, LSE.
    15. Ben Dachis & Gilles Duranton & Matthew A. Turner, 2012. "The effects of land transfer taxes on real estate markets: evidence from a natural experiment in Toronto," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 12(2), pages 327-354, March.
    16. Fritzsche, Carolin & Vandrei, Lars, 2019. "The German real estate transfer tax: Evidence for single-family home transactions," Munich Reprints in Economics 78276, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    17. Jeppe Druedahl, 2021. "A Guide on Solving Non-convex Consumption-Saving Models," Computational Economics, Springer;Society for Computational Economics, vol. 58(3), pages 747-775, October.
    18. Karen Kopecky & Richard Suen, 2010. "Finite State Markov-chain Approximations to Highly Persistent Processes," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 13(3), pages 701-714, July.
    19. Greg Kaplan & Kurt Mitman & Giovanni L. Violante, 2020. "The Housing Boom and Bust: Model Meets Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 128(9), pages 3285-3345.
    20. Khorunzhina, Natalia, 2021. "Intratemporal nonseparability between housing and nondurable consumption: Evidence from reinvestment in housing stock," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 658-670.
    21. Patrick Bajari & Phoebe Chan & Dirk Krueger & Daniel Miller, 2013. "A Dynamic Model Of Housing Demand: Estimation And Policy Implications," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 54(2), pages 409-442, May.
    22. Mariacristina De Nardi, 2004. "Wealth Inequality and Intergenerational Links," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 71(3), pages 743-768.
    23. Kamila Sommer & Paul Sullivan, 2018. "Implications of US Tax Policy for House Prices, Rents, and Homeownership," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(2), pages 241-274, February.
    24. Wenli Li & Rui Yao, 2007. "The Life-Cycle Effects of House Price Changes," Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 39(6), pages 1375-1409, September.
    25. Michael Carlos Best & Henrik Jacobsen Kleven, 2018. "Housing Market Responses to Transaction Taxes: Evidence From Notches and Stimulus in the U.K," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 85(1), pages 157-193.
    26. Orazio Attanasio & Renata Bottazzi & Hamish Low & Lars Nesheim & Matthew Wakefield, 2012. "Modelling the Demand for Housing over the Lifecycle," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 15(1), pages 1-18, January.
    27. Fatih Guvenen & Anthony A. Smith, 2014. "Inferring Labor Income Risk and Partial Insurance From Economic Choices," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 82, pages 2085-2129, November.
    28. Fedor Iskhakov & Thomas H. Jørgensen & John Rust & Bertel Schjerning, 2017. "The endogenous grid method for discrete‐continuous dynamic choice models with (or without) taste shocks," Quantitative Economics, Econometric Society, vol. 8(2), pages 317-365, July.
    29. Chambers, Matthew & Garriga, Carlos & Schlagenhauf, Don E., 2009. "Housing policy and the progressivity of income taxation," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(8), pages 1116-1134, November.
    30. Markus Karlman & Karin Kinnerud & Kasper Kragh-Sorensen, 2021. "Costly reversals of bad policies: the case of the mortgage interest deduction," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 40, pages 85-107, April.
    31. Slemrod, Joel & Weber, Caroline & Shan, Hui, 2017. "The behavioral response to housing transfer taxes: Evidence from a notched change in D.C. policy," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 100(C), pages 137-153.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Eerola, Essi & Harjunen, Oskari & Lyytikäinen, Teemu & Saarimaa, Tuukka, 2021. "Revisiting the effects of housing transfer taxes," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 124(C).
    2. Essi Eerola & Oskari Harjunen & Teemu Lyytikäinen & Tuukka Saarimaa, 2019. "Effects of Housing Transfer Taxes on Household Mobility," CESifo Working Paper Series 7750, CESifo.
    3. Daniel Borbely, 2021. "Limiting the distortionary effects of transaction taxes: Scottish stamp duty after the Mirrlees Review," Fiscal Studies, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(2), pages 265-290, June.
    4. Christofzik, Désirée I. & Feld, Lars P. & Yeter, Mustafa, 2020. "Heterogeneous price and quantity effects of the real estate transfer tax in Germany," Working Papers 10/2020, German Council of Economic Experts / Sachverständigenrat zur Begutachtung der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Entwicklung.
    5. Manning Clifford & John Freebairn, 2021. "Stamp duty and equity in Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2021n08, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    6. Petkova, Kunka & Weichenrieder, Alfons, 2017. "Price and Quantity Effects of the German Real Estate Transfer Tax," VfS Annual Conference 2017 (Vienna): Alternative Structures for Money and Banking 168305, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Daniel Borbely, 2018. "Limiting the distortionary impacts of transaction taxes: Scottish stamp duty after the Mirrlees Review," Working Papers 1817, University of Strathclyde Business School, Department of Economics.
    8. Susana Peralta & João Pereira dos Santos & Duarte Gonçalves, 2020. "Do short-term rentals increase housing prices? Quasi-experimental evidence from Lisbon," GEE Papers 0155, Gabinete de Estratégia e Estudos, Ministério da Economia, revised Jul 2020.
    9. Muhammad Adil Rauf & Olaf Weber, 2022. "Housing Sustainability: The Effects of Speculation and Property Taxes on House Prices within and beyond the Jurisdiction," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-19, June.
    10. Elisabeth Arnold & Katharina Falkner & Margit Schratzenstaller & Franz Sinabell, 2023. "Auswirkungen des Flächenverbrauchs für die Versorgungssicherheit und steuerliche Instrumente zu dessen Eindämmung," WIFO Studies, WIFO, number 71122, Juni.
    11. Clemens Fuest & Mathias Dolls & Carla Krolage & Florian Neumeier, 2019. "Who Bears the Burden of Real Estate Transfer Taxes? Evidence from the German Housing Market," ifo Working Paper Series 308, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich.
    12. Bontemps, Christian & Cherbonnier, Frédéric & Magnac, Thierry, 2023. "Reducing transaction taxes on housing in highly regulated economies”," TSE Working Papers 23-1486, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    13. Ghent, Andra C., 2021. "What’s wrong with Pittsburgh? Delegated investors and liquidity concentration," Journal of Financial Economics, Elsevier, vol. 139(2), pages 337-358.
    14. Davis, Morris A. & Van Nieuwerburgh, Stijn, 2015. "Housing, Finance, and the Macroeconomy," Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, in: Gilles Duranton & J. V. Henderson & William C. Strange (ed.), Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 753-811, Elsevier.
    15. Terviö, Marko & Määttänen, Niku, 2017. "Welfare Effects of Housing Transaction Taxes," CEPR Discussion Papers 12551, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Thiess Büttner, 2017. "Welfare Cost of the Real Estate Transfer Tax," CESifo Working Paper Series 6321, CESifo.
    17. Broulíková, Hana M. & Huber, Peter & Montag, Josef & Sunega, Petr, 2020. "Homeownership, mobility, and unemployment: Evidence from housing privatization," Journal of Housing Economics, Elsevier, vol. 50(C).
    18. Agarwal, Sumit & Li, Keyang & Qin, Yu & Wu, Jing & Yan, Jubo, 2020. "Tax evasion, capital gains taxes, and the housing market," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 188(C).
    19. Carolin Fritzsche & Lucas Rohleder, 2017. "Effekte von Änderungen der Grunderwerbsteuer – Ein Überblick über die Ergebnisse internationaler Studien," ifo Dresden berichtet, ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich, vol. 24(05), pages 09-14, October.
    20. Gonçalves, Duarte & Peralta, Susana & Pereira dos Santos, João, 2022. "Short-Term Rental Bans and Housing Prices: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Lisbon," IZA Discussion Papers 15706, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Property transfer tax; transaction tax; stamp duty; first-time buyers; residential mobility; OLG model;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • R28 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Government Policy
    • E60 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macroeconomic Policy, Macroeconomic Aspects of Public Finance, and General Outlook - - - General
    • R21 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Housing Demand

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:tin:wpaper:20220042. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Tinbergen Office +31 (0)10-4088900 (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/tinbenl.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.