Externalities In The Housing Industry

The housing crisis of 2008 can trace its origins back to the stock market trends of the mid- to late 90 's. During a period of extended growth in the stock market, increased individual wealth among investors led to generalized increases in spending, including in the housing market. With more disposable income in the pockets of consumers, the demand for housing increased in the late 90 's. Due to the fact that homes are large projects and their construction takes a large amount of time, the supply of homes in the market is inelastic on the short term. Because of the fixed supply of homes, as per the law of supply, which

The increasing homeownership rate in the United States is a worthwhile policy goal. The housing economy creates jobs for American citizens as well as brings down the competitive qualities to purchasing a home allowing more middleclass citizens to spend money on houses. In doing so this drives the overall economy up in the United States.

The development of affordable housing results in immediate and long term economic benefits by increasing government and discretionary spending in the local community. The spending increase occurs in several stages: the immediate effects of the actual construction, the secondary effects of housing-cost relief on overburdened families, and the long term effects of increased government spending in the region.

As we now know, the U.S. economy, the middle class, and its job growth was damaged by the overwhelming collapse of Wall Street, which was triggered by the downfall of the housing market and sub-prime loan defaults. One of the main things that need to be addressed in our economy today is the housing market and making sure that our banks and credit unions are not allowing people who do not have the necessary income to pay their mortgage disbursements. In an article entitled Thinking outside the Housing Bubble, the author John Vogel remarks how the economy is generally supported by the housing market. Vogel states:

In 2008, the American population saw a large wave of home foreclosures during the Great Recession that created an economic crisis that displaced millions of homeowners. Unable to recuperate from the terrible financial situation, these persons found comfort within the rental property industry. These previous owners, unable to purchase new homes, began renting property and living as tenants, contributing to the 4% growth record of the rental industry as published in a study that was conducted by Harvard University. With the growth of this industry, rental property owners began to devote more of their time to the development and marketing of their rental properties. These owners began providing lower rates for their properties, and they began making improvements that allowed them to increase the net profit that they received. With the continual “boom” of the industry and the popularity that it is receiving due to young adults needing places the live, rental property owners need an effective program that allows them to oversee their properties and communicate with their tenants.

Can we prevent any or all of these factors from having an impact on the property market?

The amount of income spent on housing is an important component of the cost of living. The total costs of housing for homeowners might include mortgage payments, property taxes, and utility costs (water, heat, electricity). An economist selected a sample

Macroeconomics is an excellent tool for the analysis of the housing industry as something like a capital good, as a home is considered to be, cannot easily be studied in a short-term platform. Real estate is a good that costs several times more than an average persons annual income, in the United States that number is typically 7 times as much, and in the United Kingdom that number is 14 times as much. Several factors of both supply and demand directly impact the housing market on a macroeconomic scale. (Business Economics, 1)

Housing demand includes household growth, real incomes, real wealth, tax concessions to both owner-occupied and rental housing, concessions to first homebuyers, returns on alternative investments, cost and availability of finance for housing and the institutional structure affecting housing finance provision (Yates, 2008). The growth in the number of households and in real income results in the increased pressure on housing demand.

The new construction market in the mid 2000’s was flourishing. People saw building a home as an opportunity for a solid investment because prices and rates were so low that certain homes could depreciate extremely slowly. However, there would be a negative effect from all this low-cost new construction and few were aware of just how devastating it would be to the new construction market.

Multiple reasons exist for the the lack of affordable housing. On the demand side these include population growth and increased migration to urban areas, easily accessible housing finance, tax incentives and a “strong cultural preference for owner-occupied detached houses”. On the supply side, affordability problems are exacerbated by inflexible and slow responses to the need for new housing stock, lack of infrastructure and generally inefficient planning processes and development assessment by local governments.

I shall look into details how policies in the public and private housing market and the immigration policies affects the private market, despite property prices steadily increasing, the private property market in Singapore continues to boom. There are many factors that play a role in this drastic demand for private property

Government policies and subsides have a sizable impact on property price, and demand. The government can temporarily boost demand with tax credits, deduction and subsidies. From the customers point of view

A great example of this is getting a degree; it might not be as important or beneficial to you to get a certain degree but the benefits that you could give the society with that degree can be significant, so the government creates scholarships and incentives to motivate you and make it easier for you to get an education and ultimately be part of the working society.

A difficult characteristic to understand about the housing market is how a price is given for a particular house. That price will be designated to that particular house alone. All houses have various pricing, so I can’t always assume that one will cost more or less than any other. The pricing for houses vary based on their characteristics. Each characteristic must be analyzed to determine its contribution or detraction toward the price. I have taken some of these characteristics and modeled the relationship between them and the price of real estate for a specific area.