Home, Sweet Home

There really is no place like home. That’s one of the findings of a new book by two real estate profes-sors. “A Primer on U.S. Housing Markets and Housing Policy” was written by School of Business Real Estate Professor Stephen Malpezzi and Richard Green, formerly of the School of Business, who now teaches at George Washington University.

Their book examines the social benefits of home ownership and finds there are many. In the book, Malpezzi and Green document how the children of homeowners— even after controlling for income, family status and other factors —do better in school and are less likely to get in trouble with the law. “Once you own property, you find yourself with more of a stake in the community,” said Malpezzi. “That spills over to better citizenship.”

The authors examined the 50 largest housing markets in the U.S. and found that zoning or building codes beyond what is needed for basic health and safety contribute to higher housing costs. “The evidence is clear that more stringent regulation drives up rents and home prices,” Malpezzi said.

The book also examined how housing policies can affect the issue of homelessness and found that the most effective way to help lower-income people improve their housing situation was direct cash payments.

The goal in writing the book, published in cooperation with the American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association (AREUEA), was to “help planners, government officials and public policy makers understand how to use an economic perspective as a powerful tool in evaluating housing issues,” according to Malpezzi.

The book was field-tested in graduate and undergraduate courses in urban and housing economics at UW-Madison, the University of California-Berkeley, the University of Pennsylvania and others.