Assessing the impact of recent Venezuelan immigration on housing rents in Colombia

Abstract

ABSTRACT The economic and social crisis faced by Venezuela since 2013 has led to a massive migration of its population to neighbouring countries, with Colombia being the nation that has been the most impacted. This paper estimates the impact of Venezuelan immigration on housing rents in Colombia’s main cities. Using a repeated cross-section data of Colombian households between 2013 and 2019, along with an instrumental variables approach, this study finds that a 1% increase in the proportion of Venezuelan immigrants to residents in the main cities in Colombia raises housing rents, on average, by about 1.25%.