Regulation and the High Cost of Housing in California

This paper analyzes the effect of regulations governing land use and residential construction upon the course of housing prices in California. We explore the linkage between regulation and housing prices using measures of housing prices estimated from the Public Use Microdata Samples (PUMS) of the 1990 and 2000 Census of Population and Housing, together with a detailed cross-sectional land use regulation and growth controls in California cities. We explore mechanisms by which regulatory stringency may affect housing outcomes for consumers. First, we assess whether housing is more expensive in more regulated cities. Second, we assess whether growth in the city-level housing stock over the period of a decade depends on the degree of land-use regulation at the start of the decade. Finally, we estimate the price elasticity of housing supply for regulated and relatively unregulated cities. Our results suggest that current regulations have powerful effects on housing outcomes.