Bricks, Taxes and Spending
Solutions for Housing Equity across Levels of Government
This report addresses housing inequities through a series of analytical chapters and case studies. The cross-country chapters examine the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing demand, develop a proposal for a green land value tax, evaluate the dynamics between fiscal autonomy and housing supply responsiveness, as well as explore the drivers of inter-regional migration. The case studies unravel the changes of Korea's progressive national property tax and a programme to address regional imbalances, assess the impact of the US property tax system on housing, dive into Norway's property taxation in relation to inequality, as well as survey Belgium's approaches to housing policy. With a blend of empirical data and critical analysis, the report underscores the pressing need for comprehensive strategies in addressing housing inequities. It also offers insights for policymakers and scholars, highlighting the complex balance between national and local housing policies.
Changes in the geography of housing demand after the onset of COVID-19
This chapter presents a new house-price dataset from a network of public and private data providers, exploring housing market shifts following the COVID-19 pandemic. As remote work gained prominence, many people sought larger spaces, potentially further away from city centres due to reduced commuting needs. The study’s results indicate a trend shift in housing demand from major city centres to urban peripheries. However, this shift is not consistent everywhere. It is more pronounced in cities with larger pre-pandemic house price disparities, more green space access at the periphery, better high-speed internet availability or where COVID-19 containment measures were more stringent. The chapter concludes by discussing policy implications, including the benefits of flexible policy settings that allow supply to adjust smoothly to new demand patterns, and makes suggestions for future work planned to better understand the shifts with the new data.
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