Rental Housing Market Research Articles

Establishing a new system of affordable housing

The current housing security system plays a crucial role in improving people’s livelihood and promoting social equity and justice. However, the high eligibility criteria for affordable housing and its limited coverage have resulted in unsatisfactory outcomes of the affordable housing model. This paper introduces and analyzes the Korean Jeonse right system, and, in light of the current state of affordable housing development in China, proposes a new housing rental model. The aim is to address the core issues of the real estate market, alleviate the contradiction between “housing difficulties” and social progress, and offer suggestions for the future evolution of the housing rental market.

Discrimination in the Austrian rental housing market: The effect of information concerning first and second-generation immigrant status

This study investigates the previously unexplored effect that immigrant generation has on housing discrimination against immigrants. Property owners may perceive more recent immigrants as particularly “other” and fear that they will not be good tenants, e.g. because they will treat a property in an undesirable manner or not pay their bills. To test the effect of acculturation, we conduct an email correspondence test in Austria and compare landlords’ responses to inquiries from immigrants (with a Serbian, Syrian or Turkish name) of the first, first and a half, and second-generation to those who do not provide respective information about their immigration background. We find that when applicants indicate their place of birth and upbringing, discrimination is highest for first-generation immigrants and lowest for second-generation immigrants. This suggests an advantage for more acculturated applicants. However, compared to providing no information, actively signaling a second-generation background only benefits one of the immigrant groups tested (Syrians), who may be perceived as recent refugees otherwise.

Does the size of the housing rental market stabilize regional economic fluctuations? Evidence from China's large- and medium-sized cities

The influence of the housing rental market on economic operations is a significant concern. Particularly in China, the rental market has been undergoing a transition from being disregarded to being valued. Based on an analytical framework referencing the three-sector theory of metropolitan economic growth, this study explores the impact of rental market size on regional economic fluctuations and its influence channels using a panel of 69 large and medium-sized cities from 2010 to 2019. The results indicate that increased rental market size is significantly correlated with decreased regional economic fluctuations through housing sales and labor market channels. Specifically, house price depression, house investment stability, labor allocation, and employment stability effects are crucial channels through which the size of the rental market influences regional economic fluctuations. In addition, the marginal effect of rental market size on regional economic fluctuations is smaller in cities with higher economic development. The conclusions imply that policymakers should not focus on how to unilaterally expand the housing rental market, but should strategically compensate for the defects of regional housing rental–related institutional systems.

Gender Discrimination in the Rental Housing Market: Conceptual Ideas and Empirical Evidence from Lagos, Nigeria

This study examines the complex issues surrounding gender discrimination in the rental housing market in Lagos, Nigeria. It investigates the reasons for gender preferences alongside the immediate reactions and responses of female tenants who experienced rental housing discrimination, which frequently manifests as higher rent demands, unfavourable lease terms and outright denial of housing, among others. The mixed methods study used instruments that were tested for reliability and validity, with copies of the questionnaire being served to real-estate practitioners and interviews conducted with female tenants to develop evidence-based policy recommendations for addressing gender discrimination and promoting equitable access to rental housing in Lagos State. Thus, the study makes an important contribution to the discourse of gender discrimination. Given the cultural roots of such discrimination, the study suggests the need for an awareness campaign targeting diverse actors within the housing market. The study noted that the Nigerian government has enacted laws to protect women's rights in housing, implementation remains a challenge. Therefore, promoting gender equality in housing requires the concerted efforts of government and the collective resistance of civil-society organisations and the private sector.

ANALYSIS AND PROSPECTS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF RENTAL RESIDENTIAL REAL ESTATE IN THE UDMURT REPUBLIC

This study, using the example of the Udmurt Republic and some Russian regions, examines the development of rental residential real estate. An analysis of the rental housing market was carried out, on the basis of which prospects were identified and ways of development of this area were outlined. The study examined state and federal programs and subprograms implemented in Russian regions aimed at providing affordable, comfortable housing, as well as utility services to citizens of the Russian Federation, and analyzed the main indicators. The purpose of the study is to determine the main ways of development of rental residential real estate in the Udmurt Republic. For this purpose, an analysis of scientific sources was carried out, the authors of which study issues related to the problem of residential real estate development in our country. In the process of working on the article, the authors reviewed the “Rented Houses” program, aimed at helping to improve the living conditions of citizens, which is being implemented in the city of St. Petersburg. An assessment of this program is given and the conclusion is made that, under certain conditions, this program can be applied in the Udmurt Republic. Also, during this study, the authors studied statistical data reflecting the current situation in the rental housing market and conducted a sociological survey. The development of a rental housing stock involves the careful development of certain mechanisms for the construction of residential space for that category of citizens who need rent to improve their living conditions. It has been revealed that government support, attraction of funds from citizens, as well as long-term installment payments contribute to the development of the rental housing market with the right to purchase. Thus, the authors of the article concluded that at the state level it is necessary to ensure regulation between the leasing parties, since this form of financial services is of interest to all social categories of citizens who need rental housing at market prices.

Inflation: What we have learned and what we need to know

We discuss the lessons that economic forecasters have learned about inflation since the Covid shock. First, physical shortages—e.g., in the auto sector—can push up goods prices much more dramatically than most forecasters expected following several decades near price stability. Second, imbalances in the rental housing market can sharply increase inflation and keep it high, especially in economies such as the US where rents are used to impute owner-occupied housing costs. Third, the jobs-workers gap can be a better measure of labor market balance than the unemployment rate or the employment/population ratio.Originally prepared for the Spring 2024 NBER conference on “Inflation in the Covid era and beyond”.

Capturing Low Demand Through Long Time-On-Market: Functional Obsolescence and Owner Resignation Among Old Rental Houses

ABSTRACT In Asian countries, including Japan, the rapid demolition and new construction of housing continues, causing demand for old housing stock to fall. Employing unit-level listing information obtained from a real estate portal in the Tokyo rental housing market, this study differentiates vacancies by time dimension and documents that old properties are likely to spend a long time on the market, exceeding several months. This low demand for old houses can be attributed to functional obsolescence (lack of contemporary housing amenities and services) and owner resignation (lack of adequate countermeasures to fill vacancies regardless of their effectiveness). Our results indicate that even in popular property segments and neighbourhoods at the macro level, low demand broadly arises among old houses and is not always socially inefficient. Moreover, accelerating early redevelopment may improve social welfare by avoiding older properties sitting on the market for long periods.

Private rental housing market in Ethiopia: Aspirations and challenges

The private rental accommodation is a significant contributor to urban housing supply and is densely populated. Despite its prevalence, it has not received much attention in academic discussions. The rental housing market is like a double-edged sword, with both positive and negative aspects. Researchers have identified it as a problematic housing type that requires further investigation and intervention. A mixed research approach was employed to collect qualitative and quantitative data from 384 samples to understand the rental housing market better. The study found that the regulatory and interactional aspects of the private rental housing market have contributed to its problematic features. Although the market positively impacts housing shortages, private rental a source of unsuitable accommodation. To address these issues, the authors recommend regulatory and interactional dimensions of the private rental housing market be addressed through formal intervention and legislation.

Fairness of the first-come, first-served rule on the rental housing market: Insights from a hypothetical survey experiment

Echoing recent policies implemented in Seattle and Portland, we examine perceptions of the fairness of the first-come, first-served (FCFS) rule in the context of discrimination in the rental housing market. To do so, we use an original hypothetical survey experiment in which a rental agent is confronted with the discriminatory preferences of his landlord customers. A sample of 2,835 respondents representative of the US population was asked about which choice was the best, from a moral point of view: to allocate rental units exclusively to whichever group applied first (FCFS rule), to the other group or 50/50 to both groups. In two separate experiments, we manipulated (i) the order of arrival of the discriminated and non-discriminated groups, (ii) the income impact of implementing the FCFS rule for the rental agent, who risks losing landlord customers if they rent to the discriminated group, (iii) peer effects, i.e., what other rental agents do and (iv) social norms shared by all members of the community. Consistent with the literature, we find that the order of tenant arrival affects respondents’ normative preferences, and that, second to the 50/50 rule, the FCFS rule is well-received by respondents. Additionally, income, peer influence and social norms all causally impact the level of support for the FCFS rule among respondents. Finally, respondents who are more likely to experience economic hardship and belong to the dominant group in their neighbourhood are the least likely to support the FCFS rule.

Adequate housing in Taipei City’s private rental market: a visual content analysis of online rental unit advertisements

Since 2017, Taipei City government has implemented a policy to expand the rental housing market with a set of incentives for landlords that brings more affordable apartments to the market. This study applied visual content analysis to online rental housing advertisements to investigate the private rental market’s ability to provide adequate housing. The results show limited supply in the affordable price range, structural deficits, and elements contributing to an unsafe and unhealthy living environment. Also, accessibility is not ensured, as 91% of the units are in walk-up buildings. In addition, the prospects of the current policy direction for improving tenants’ precarity in the private rental market are weak, as discrimination and lease insecurity are not being addressed. This paper discusses the potential adverse effects of the current policy direction, including hindering urban regeneration efforts and fuelling a ‘Generation Landlord’. A tenant-centred, multidimensional approach to affordability is recommended as a starting point for future policy design.

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine on the local housing rental market in Poland

Effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine on the local housing rental market in Poland

Financialization the Swedish way: How Vonovia became the largest owner of former public housing estates through transaction pathways and calculative practices

ABSTRACT The Swedish rental housing market has been in transition. The once dominating municipal public housing sector has been steadily decreasing. International firms have increasingly taken over rental housing in so-called socially deprived areas. This article analyzes the financialization of the former public housing stock. It traces activities in two housing estates and outlines the history and operations of venture capital-based real estate companies focusing on deprived areas in Sweden. These companies have upgraded multifamily homes and thus increased rents, which resulted in large profits and a decrease in the affordable housing stock. In this new reality, venture capital actors have taken advantage of contextual conditions and applied powerful calculative devices. Drawing on studies of financialization as a socio-technical process, the article contributes to knowledge by de-mystifying financialization through a detailed study of specific practices undertaken by international investors who acquire former public housing units in Sweden.

The moderating effects of Airbnb between urban conservation and housing rental market: A case study of Shanghai

The advent of peer-to-peer (P2P) home-sharing platforms such as Airbnb has noticeably impacted the housing rental market, as they have caused an increase in short-term rentals (STRs). Despite a growing body of research showing a positive correlation between Airbnb and housing rentals, the role of urban conservation efforts has received limited attention. In this study, we examine the moderating effects of Airbnb on the relationship between officially designated conservation zones and the housing rental market using data from township-level observations in Shanghai. The empirical evidence demonstrates that both the presence of historic conservation areas and the number of Airbnb listings have a considerable positive impact on property rental pricing. Furthermore, there is a direct correlation between the presence of more extensive conservation areas and an increase in house rental prices. Heterogeneity effects are evident in several townships in Shanghai with different levels of Airbnb activity, as the moderating effects are significant in townships with a large number of Airbnb listings. These results suggest that rising housing rents cannot be attributed entirely to the proliferation of STR services facilitated by home-sharing platforms. Future regulations for the housing rental market should address the impacts of home-sharing accommodations and the preservation and revitalization of designated conservation zones.

Subjectification as an ideal tenant. Competing for housing in the Viennese private rental market

Despite its reputation as a ‘paradise for renters,’ housing seekers in Vienna also face increasing difficulties in finding affordable housing, especially in the private rental housing market. We examine how competitive housing search, application, and allocation shape the subjectivities of housing seekers. Drawing on interviews with landlords, real estate agents and housing seekers in the Viennese private rental market, we analyse the suggestions of subjectivity housing seekers face and how they appropriate—enact, negotiate, or contest—these subjectivities. The study shows that housing seekers must sense and enact an ideal tenant to increase their chances of successfully accessing housing. The various modes of subjectification clustered around this image of the ideal tenant—being solvent, caring for the apartment, not being a foreigner, and invoking a good ‘gut feeling’—show that increased competition not only makes access to affordable housing more difficult, but also has normative effects.

Investigating inefficiencies in the German rental housing market: The impact of disclosing total costs on energy efficiency appreciation

Energy efficiency and renewable energy are key pillars of the energy transition that is high on the political agenda of governments in face of the climate crisis. Germany, however, is underperforming in its emissions reduction goals. There is still room for improvement, especially in the building sector – but this is often associated with high upfront investments. There is evidence that the market for energy efficiency in the German rental housing market is inefficient, resulting in underinvestment. To investigate these inefficiencies, this study estimates a hedonic pricing model combined with a total-cost-of-use perspective based on the observation of warm rents for a sample of 3,903,473 rental offers from 2014 to 2021. In a “perfect world”, the effect of the energy performance score given in energy performance certificates as an indicator of energy consumption or demand, respectively, is expected to be zero, as corresponding costs are already included in the warm rent. If the coefficient is significantly different from zero, it can be interpreted as measure for inefficiencies. The study further investigates whether disclosing heating costs in real estate advertisements could lead to a better appreciation of energy efficiency in the rental market and thus contribute to closing the information gap. Results show that the market for energy efficiency is indeed inefficient; however, the disclosure of full information can help to overcome these inefficiencies. These results lead to several important policy implications.

Rental housing. Analysis of the modern normative base

The article examines the problem of providing housing in Ukraine at the present time. The formation of a civilized rental housing market is considered an effective way to solve the problem of providing citizens with a sufficient amount of housing. An analysis of the modern regulatory framework for determining the functional affiliation of temporary accommodation facilities was carried out. Features and differences in the design of public buildings (hotels with apartments) and residential buildings are defined. Considered issues of regulatory restrictions for creating rental housing: determining the time of insolation for these apartments; determination of the maximum level of building density of rental buildings; determining the possibility of integrating public infrastructure for service into such buildings. There was a need to create a new, socially effective mechanism that would allow middle-income citizens to rent housing and improve their quality of life. Currently, the Law of Ukraine "On Rental Housing" has been developed and adopted in the first reading. According to the draft of this Law, rental housing can be located both in separate buildings and as part of multifunctional complexes. At the same time, such typological units may be included in the composition of such complexes (except for rental housing (residential apartments)), such as hotels, office premises, restaurants, cafes, commercial premises and other public premises. According to world practice, various functions in such complexes are usually distributed by height, with placement on different groups of floors. So, for example, there is a hotel on the lower floors, and residential apartments on the upper floors. At the same time, in this case, such residential apartments belong to the profitable (commercial) class. However, at present, the regulatory framework of Ukraine does not define such a typological variety as "Rental housing". Although the functional affiliation of various types of establishments for temporary accommodation of the population, such as "hotel apartments", "apart-hotels" and others, is currently defined in sufficient detail. So, in addition to legislative standardization, there is currently a task to include such type of buildings as rental residential buildings in the regulatory framework of Ukraine.

Are Hedonic Models Really Quality-Adjusted? The Role of Apartment Quality in Hedonic Models of Housing Rental Market

Abstract In micro-level data concerning the housing market, the apartment quality may be signaled via textual statements or the attached descriptions/photos. It may be done using hard information related to the easier-to-measure structural characteristics or soft information related to the apartment condition and design - soft quality. This paper checks whether the choice of the approach to handling the issue of soft quality of apartments influences the properties of hedonic models and the course of hedonic rent indices. The study shows that hedonic models that account for soft quality have better statistical properties than those without soft-quality-related variables. Among them, the models that include the information on quality extracted from descriptions of apartments prove to be the best. Still, considerable differences in the indicated course of hedonic rent indices have not been detected. However, the paper concludes that utilizing information on apartments’ soft quality may be crucial to understanding the market adjustment process to economic shocks. It has been proven that the price reaction of the Poznań (Poland) rental market to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russian aggression on Ukraine has been diversified in the quality-related market segments.

Is hiding my first name enough? Using behavioural interventions to mitigate racial and gender discrimination in the rental housing market

This study investigates whether behavioural interventions can reduce racial and gender discrimination in the rental housing market. In our correspondence tests, we incorporated two specific behavioural interventions: providing employment details to assist letting agents in overcoming statistical discrimination and incorporating anti-discrimination messages to encourage adherence to the ‘Equality, Diversity and Inclusion’ social norm. Although these strategies notably influenced the likelihood of prospective renters receiving responses to their housing inquiries, the outcomes were not consistent across genders or ethnic groups and were not always positive. Racial and gender discrimination in housing markets is a complex issue. There are no ‘one-size-fits-all’ solutions when using behavioural tools to address complex social problems such as racial and gender discrimination. Behavioural interventions demand rigorous field testing prior to widespread adoption.

Access to Land, Building Materials & Finance for Rental Housing Production in Dodoma Capital City, Tanzania

This paper presents study findings concerning rental housing delivery systems in accommodating low-income urban residents in Tanzania. Generally, the study intended to establish operational and workable policy options for promoting affordable rental houses to narrow the urban housing shortage gap that has been increasing over time. The study involved 100 property developers, eighteen (18) key informants, six (6) brokers, and fifteen (15) tenants who were purposely selected for the study. Qualitative and quantitative data were collected through interviews with property developers, and focus group discussions with key informants and local leaders. Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20 was employed in inferential and descriptive analysis. In line with this, a Chi-square technique was employed for describing the association between the variables while descriptive analysis was employed to describe the distribution of scores among the variables. The study has shown that 68% of property developers obtain land through an informal land market while the rest 32% obtain it from a formal market. Moreover, property developers have reported that savings are the dominant source of rental housing finance mechanisms in the study area which accounts for 65% of the housing finance mechanisms. Other sources are remittances (16%), pensions (8%), loans (7%), and borrowing from relatives (4%). The study has revealed that the Pearson chi-square value and significance value, confirm that, there is a significant association between affordability and the category of land market (= 65.696, P < 0.001). Furthermore, the study has evidenced that individual property developers are dominating the rental housing market in the absence of policies, regulations, standards, and plans that could take into consideration the access to rental housing for low-income urban residents. The study recommends to the central and local government that there should be an urgent strategy to establish an enabling housing policy to promote affordable rental housing as an option for low-income urban residents in Tanzania.

Urban planning responses to the tweaking of approved residential subdivisions by developers in urban Ghana: Case of Kodiekrom, Kumasi

Residential developments in African cities such as Kumasi, should proceed based on approved subdivisions. However, it is now common for land owners and residents to tweak approved layouts by creating additional unapproved plots to sell to the urban poor without the knowledge of planning authorities. There is dearth of research about the experiences, attitudes and perceptions of half plot developers and urban planning responses as well as the implications of this phenomenon. Using in-depth interviews of city officials and homeowners in the south-eastern part of Kumasi, the research sought to address this gap. The findings suggested that the urban poor opt to acquire half plots for housing development mainly because of the informal nature of the rental housing market and high rent charges. The challenges associated with the increasing phenomenon of acquiring and developing on half plots were revealed to be high densities, inability to secure mortgages, conflicts with neighbours and the fear of eviction due to lack of security of tenure as well as lack of legal documentation. Urban planning responses to this phenomenon appear weak and inefficient. The study concludes that the urban poor, considering the benefits of acquiring and developing on half plots might continue with the practice; hence, the need to find pragmatic ways of dealing with the rapid occurrence of the half plot phenomenon.