Jeffrey Miron
Many cities have recently repealed or amended zoning laws that previously served to drive up housing prices.
One recent study looks at
how zoning regulations in the Boston metropolitan area of Massachusetts have affected the long-run supply, prices, and rents of single-family and multifamily homes (apartments).
For one,
loose density restrictions paired with multifamily zoning in the same neighborhood increased the average number of housing units per lot. … Looser height restrictions did not affect housing supply or prices, even when paired with multifamily zoning. These findings suggest that density restrictions limit housing construction in the Boston metro area while height regulations do not.
[The] research also finds that differences in housing prices and rents across boundaries primarily stemmed from strict zoning regulations increasing the average size of housing units. … [Thus,] zoning regulations have increased the size of housing units and driven up housing prices and rents in large portions of the Boston metro area.
Eliminating these distortions would allow for better, market-driven outcomes.
Cross-posted from Substack.
