A model of regional housing markets in England and Wales

Abstract

We propose and estimate an economic model of regional housing markets in England and Wales, incorporating both the macroeconomic relationships between prices, demand and supply and a microeconomic model of search, matching and price formation. The empirical model, estimated separately for each of the 10 government office regions in England and Wales, validates the economic model. However, we find substantial heterogeneity across the regions, which is potentially useful in informing housing and land-use policies. In addition, the model allows completely unrestricted inter-regional spatial relationships. The estimated spatial autocorrelations imply different drivers of spatial diffusion in different regions, the understanding of which can be improved by further work