Conference Agenda

Overview and details of the sessions of this conference. Please select a date or location to show only sessions at that day or location. Please select a single session for detailed view (with abstracts and downloads if available).

Please note that all times are shown in the time zone of the conference. The current conference time is: 9th May 2025, 10:14:04am EDT

 
 
Session Overview
Session
Track TH5-4: Housing and Household Consumption
Time:
Thursday, 22/May/2025:
11:30am - 12:15pm

Session Chair: Stephen Zeldes, Columbia University
Session Chair: Adair Morse, Berkeley Haas
Discussant: Franklin Qian, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School
Location: Gateway South 216


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Presentations

Diversifying the Suburbs: Rental Supply and Spatial Inequality

Konhee Chang

University of California, Berkeley

Insufficient rental supply in American suburbs limits mobility for financially constrained households unable to afford homeownership. I find that reallocating suburban single-family homes to rentals reduces spatial inequality by increasing access to desirable neighborhoods for non-White and younger households. In my reduced-form analyses, I exploit the entry of large-scale corporate landlords and leverage property-level data on home prices, rents, and tenant characteristics. Corporate landlords pay a 9% premium to acquire owner-occupied homes, increasing rental supply in suburbs where it is scarce and expensive. This expansion of rental supply lowers rents while raising home prices. To assess the distributional consequences, I develop a quantitative spatial equilibrium model with segmented housing markets. Converting ownership homes to rentals benefits down payment-constrained households by reducing barriers to high-amenity neighborhoods. However, the estimated non-pecuniary benefits of homeownership suggest that households who can marginally afford a home lose out.

Chang-Diversifying the Suburbs-450.pdf


 
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