Causes of disinvestment in New York City's housing

Abstract

A model of the housing market in cross-sectional disequilibrium is developed and tested with data on New York City census tracts. The sampled tracts experienced substantial declines in the multifamily housing stock. The empirical tests attempt to measure the relative importance of social and economic factors which contribute to disinvestment and abandonment. The findings indicate that social factors such as large concentrations of children from broken homes and low rates of family formation are at least as important as economic factors measured by family income and unemployment.