New supply and housing price behaviour: A short revision of the empirical evidence

Abstract

House-building has been very intense in some European countries throughout the last 15 years but not in others. It has generated an expansion in the residential stock that has been explained as the result of some demand forces playing at the same time and boosting residential market mechanisms during this period. Although demand pressures have been similar across Europe, the new supply construction has reacted with distinct strength depending on the economies. This paper reviews the literature seeking for reasons to analyze the different reactions and the implication on house prices growth of development sector. It mainly classifies the literature between both the group that suggests stable supply elasticities in the short-long term and those sustaining that elasticities change dramatically, reflecting the developers reaction to market innovations. The differences in new housing supply responses across European countries remain a wide area for housing researchers to explain how housing prices react by region.