Working Paper: NBER ID: w26573
Authors: Joseph Gyourko; Jonathan Hartley; Jacob Krimmel
Abstract: We report results from a new survey of local residential land use regulatory regimes for over 2,450 primarily suburban communities across the U.S. The most highly regulated markets are on the two coasts, with the San Francisco and New York City metropolitan areas being the most highly regulated according to our metric. Comparing our new data to that from a previous survey finds that the housing bust associated with the Great Recession did not lead any major market that previously was highly regulated to reverse course and deregulate to any significant extent. Moreover, regulation in most large coastal markets increased over time.
Keywords: Land Use Regulation; Housing Markets; Regulatory Environment; Housing Affordability
JEL Codes: R11; R14; R31; R52
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| regulatory environment (G38) | housing supply (R31) |
| regulatory environment (G38) | housing prices (R31) |
| increased regulation (G18) | higher housing prices (R31) |
| number of entities required for project approval (O22) | development delays (O11) |
| regulatory intensity (L51) | approval processes (G28) |