Housing Demand: An International Perspective

Abstract

Housing markets reflect distinctive national and regional policies and practices. It is important to increase understanding of housing markets and, in particular, of housing demand behavior, to cope with various housing problems and develop better housing policies. At present, the vast majority of empirical studies have been conducted in North America and the United Kingdom. However, housing markets can differ significantly among different countries because of housing tenure arrangements, housing finance arrangements, and the form and extent of government intervention. We must therefore take into consideration relevant national and regional differences when we conduct empirical studies about housing demand behavior in each country. The goal of this essay is to compare Asian and non-Asian empirical housing demand studies outside North America and the UK, to highlight the importance of national and regional differences that affect housing policies. In addition, this essay also examines more general mechanisms in housing demand behavior, housing markets and housing policies in comparative perspective. In the following, we focus on the demand for housing services. In section 11.3, we compare simultaneous decisions of housing tenure choice and housing demand studies from Japan and Sweden. The comparison sheds light on how various differences require different econometric specifications for analyzing the countries’ housing markets. In section 11.4, we discuss studies concerning the demand for floor space in Japan and China. Given differences in political systems and