House prices, housing development costs, and the supply of new single-family housing in German counties and cities

This paper investigates the determinants of new single-family housing supply in local housing markets in Germany, using construction permits as the dependent variable. The empirical estimations are based on a panel data-set for 413 German counties and cities spanning the time period of 2004–2010. Employing dynamic panel data analysis, the findings suggest that the local ratio of existing home prices to housing construction costs and past local permit rates act as important drivers of new local housing investment. The average long-run price elasticity of new single-family housing supply is considerably less than one, but sizeable differences exist across the urban hierarchy.