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Do house prices ride the wave of immigration?
journal contribution
posted on 2019-12-01, 00:00 authored by Matthew Larkin, Zohidjon Askarov, Chris DoucouliagosChris Doucouliagos, Chris DubelaarChris Dubelaar, Maria Klona, Joshua NewtonJoshua Newton, Tom StanleyTom Stanley, Andrea VocinoAndrea VocinoThe sharp rise in international migration is a pressing social and economic issue, as seen in the recent global trend towards nationalism. One major concern is the impact of immigration on housing. We assemble a comprehensive database of 474 estimates of immigration's impact on house prices in 14 destination countries and find that immigration increases house prices, in the aggregate. The effect of immigration is larger at the province (state) level as it is at the city level. However, using data from the World Values Survey, we also show that attitudes to immigrants moderate this effect. In countries less welcoming to immigrants, house price increases are more limited.