The Financial Times:
Rent controls that aren't
27 April 2015
Labour made two housing policy commitments over the weekend, only one of which was interesting. The uninteresting one was the promise to cut stamp duty for first-time buyers. That just aligns Labour with the coalition government in a silly rivalry for measures that help aspiring homeowners with one hand while pulling their goal out of reach with the other. In a supply-constrained market, the effect of demand subsidies (which all of these are) is just to drive up the price. That point is made in the best short guide to UK housing policy, a new election briefing from the London School of Economics' Centre for Economic Performance.
This article was published by The Financial Times on April 27, 2015
Link to article here
Related publications
'UK Housing and Planning Policies: the evidence from economic research', Christian Hilber, CEP 2015 Election Analysis No.33, April 2015
CEP #ElectionEconomics video interview with Christian Hilber on 'Housing' - view here
Related links
Christian Hilber webpage
Spatial Economics Research Centre website