Housing and the Economy: Policies for Renovation

This chapter compares a number of housing policies for a range of OECD countries and concludes that badly-designed policies can have substantial negative effects on the economy, for instance by increasing the level and volatility of real house prices and preventing people from moving easily to follow employment opportunities. Some of these policies played an important role in triggering the recent financial and economic crisis and could also slow down the recovery. The chapter makes some recommendations for efficient and equitable housing policies that can also contribute to macroeconomic stability and growth.