How Do Taxation and Regulation Affect the Real Estate Market?

In the past decade, housing costs have risen tremendously. While real estate prices in Germany have increased by around 50percent, major cities have experienced an even stronger surge. Likewise, rents have substantially increased, particularly in major cities. The Big Date article in the new EconPol Forum 5/2022 provides an overview of four projects that assess the effects of regulation and taxation as well as the pandemic’s impact on the German real estate market, using large-scale property price as well as survey data. Do subsidies make housing purchases more affordable? How do real estate transfer taxes affect house prices? How does rent regulation such as the Berlin rent cap affect the real estate market?