Wednesday, May 27, 2026 12:30 - 14:00

This event is both online and in person.

SAL 1.04, 1st Floor Conference Room, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, LSE, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH

Online participants are welcome:
Please sign up to our mailinglist (seminar_macroiep) to receive event updates and a link to the seminar online.

About this event

We quantify the real estate developer response to a variety of proposed zoning reforms by estimating a flexible structural model of developer behavior using data from Cook County, Illinois. The structural model combines a flexible hedonic model of house prices with revealed preferences of developer behavior, enabling us to evaluate heterogeneous supply-side responses to zoning reforms. We find that a sweeping zoning reform allowing at minimum 3 units on every lot only increases the aggregate housing supply by 3.5 percent, with the average lot having 1.3 units built on it. Development is limited because the revenue from a 3-unit multifamily building typically does not justify the cost of purchasing and demolishing existing single-family homes. Furthermore, an alternative zoning reform to ?streamline? the permitting process leads to essentially no new development. In order to see a large supply-side response from up-zoning, cities must either make more vacant land available for residential development or permit much higher density per lot.

Participants are expected to adhere to the CEP Events Code of Conduct.

Directions

This event will take place in SAL 1.04, 1st Floor Conference Room, Sir Arthur Lewis Building, LSE, 32 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PH.

Online participants are welcome:
Please sign up to our mailinglist (seminar_macroiep) to receive event updates and a link to the seminar online.

The building is labelled SAL on the LSE campus map. You can also find us on Google Maps. For further information, go to contact us.

Trade and Urban Seminars are part of the CEP's Trade programme and Urban programme.