Do short-term rental platforms affect housing markets? Evidence from Airbnb in Barcelona

(with Miquel-Àngel García-López, Jordi Jofre-Monseny, and Mariona Segú). 

Journal of Urban Economics, vol. 119, September 2020.

In this paper, we assess the impact of Airbnb on housing rents and prices in the city of Barcelona. Examining very detailed data on rents and both transaction and posted prices, we use several econometric approaches that exploit the exact timing and geography of Airbnb activity in the city. These include i) panel fixed-effects models, where we run multiple specifications that allow for different forms of heterogeneous time trends across neighborhoods, ii) an instrumental variables shift-share approach in which tourist amenities predict where Airbnb listings will locate and Google searches predict when listings appear, iii) event-study designs, and iv) finally, we present evidence from Sagrada Familia, a major tourist amenity that is not found in the city centre. Our main results imply that for the average neighborhood, Airbnb activity has increased rents by 1.9%, transaction prices by 4.6% and posted prices by 3.7%. The estimated impact in neighborhoods with high Airbnb activity is substantial. For neighborhoods in the top decile of Airbnb activity distribution, rents are estimated to have increased by 7%, while increases in transaction (posted) prices are estimated at 17% (14%). 

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• • El País ; ElMundo.es; El Periódico; Betevé; Nada es Gratis; Ara.cat

Effectiveness and supply effects of high-coverage rent control policies

(with Jordi Jofre-Monseny, and Mariona Segú)

Regional Science and Urban Economics, 103916. 

Concerns related to housing affordability are widespread in cities worldwide, and discussions about adopting rent control policies abound. This paper studies the effects of a rent control policy adopted in Catalonia in September 2020 that applies to some but not all municipalities. The policy virtually covers all the rental market and forces ads and tenancy agreements to specify the applicable rent cap to ensure enforcement. In order to identify the causal effect of the rent control regulation, we implement difference-in-differences regressions and event-study designs and analyze average rents and the number of tenancy agreements signed. Our results indicate that the regulation reduced average rents paid by about 6%. However, this price drop did not lead to a reduction in the supply of housing units in the rental market. We implement several robustness tests to address several identification concerns related to Covid-19. Our results suggest that rent control policies can be effective in reducing rental prices and do not necessarily shrink the rental market. 

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• • Nada es Gratis ; Nada es Gratis II; Ara.cat; 5centims; InfoIEB

La crisis de asequibilidad en la vivienda de alquiler

Papers: Regió Metropolitana de Barcelona, (66), 11-24. 

Los problemas de asequibilidad en la vivienda no se restringen ya a las grandes ciudades ni a los hogares de menores ingresos, siendo una realidad particularmente notoria para los que viven de alquiler. La evidencia indica que esta crisis se deriva de varias fuentes, desde las regulaciones en la oferta habitacional, la creciente desigualdad en el ingreso en los países desarrollados, la aparición de nuevas tecnologías relacionadas con alojamiento turístico, hasta las tasas de interés y restricciones al crédito. La falta de vivienda asequible afecta a los individuos, comprometiendo el acceso a la comida, la salud o la educación, en particular en la infancia. En términos agregados, la crisis implica un impacto negativo en el crecimiento económico con consecuencias demográficas. Este artículo repasa las principales medidas que los gobiernos nacionales y locales han adoptado para revertir la situación y su efectividad. En particular, se discute la evidencia teórica y empírica más reciente sobre los controles de alquiler. Entender las causas y las consecuencias detrás de la falta de vivienda asequible es fundamental para proyectar ciudades sostenibles en el futuro. 

Floods and urban density 

(with Pierre Magontier) R&R

This paper examines the effects of floods on urban development dynamics using geolocalized data on the universe of buildings in Spain from 1996 to 2021. We provide empirical evidence that floods foster local urban development and yield taller, more compact urban layouts, attracting populations, increasing property values, and shifting land use away from the agricultural and industrial sectors. We argue that adaptive responses to natural disasters may trigger positive local spillovers strong enough to overcompensate for the flood's destructive nature.

"Mom, Dad: I'm staying." Young adults, housing, and labor markets

Special mention on Nada es Gratis. Submitted

Young adults worldwide face significant challenges in leaving their parental homes. Despite improvements in labor market conditions since the Great Recession, housing markets struggle to provide viable solutions for young adults seeking independence. In this paper, I provide causal evidence that poor initial labor market conditions have adverse and long-lasting effects on housing tenure and affordability. I do so by exploiting the unemployment rate across European college graduates at the time of their graduation. Furthermore, I develop an overlapping generations model to prove that housing markets fail to adapt as outside options for landlords make rents rigid, driving the rise in co-residency among young adults. The model also offers policy insights into the roles of parental aid and housing allowances in facilitating household formation.