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IS-BILAT-Mobilitet Norge-USA /Canada

Housing, Renting, and the Cost of Living

Tildelt: kr 0,23 mill.

Shelter is the single largest expenditure for most households. Households can obtain shelter, or housing services, in two very different ways. This project will study differences and similarities between purchasing and renting housing services. We will co mpare and contrast the costs of housing services for owners and renters. We will test existing methods and propose novel approaches to measuring the cost of housing. Specifically, we propose to implement a new method for incorporating the prices of obtain ing housing services for owner-occupied housing into the Consumer Price Index (CPI). We implement this new approach using data from a set of OECD countries. Next, using new data from Statistics Norway, we attempt to measure the bias induced by using renta l prices in the CPI. We do this by approximating, by imputation, the cost of owner occupied housing from the new data source. The project examines the efficiency of the housing market. We will pay particular attention to the differences between the Shille r-test (of time-persistence) and the Malkiel-test (of a risk-return-relationship). Characteristics of the rental market in Norway will be investigated using a novel data source obtained in 2005 with 3849 renters across Norway. This internationally unique data set (in population coverage and information variegation) is utilized to establish a hedonic rental index of observable attributes of the object. In addition, we exploit the rich information on renter characteristics, renter-owner relationship, and re nt inclusions to investigate such socially important issues as the premium for renting from a professional firm, the price significance of the length of renting period, the rent reductions from noise, and the price-sensitivity to proximity to urban center s. Finally, we examine the ramifications of the mode (purchase or rent) of acquiring shelter on the rest of a households purchase behavior.

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IS-BILAT-Mobilitet Norge-USA /Canada

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