Housing Demand in Italy: A Microeconometric Analysis

This paper estimates tenure choice and housing demand equations in Italy, using cross-section data from the Bank of Italy 1991 Survey. The data include information on housing characteristics that is used to calculate hedonic price indexes for the Italian housing market. Empirical literature in this field is extended by using the hedonic price approach in order to take into account the problem of rent control and rationing in the rental sector. Then, the results on price and income elasticities are found to be similar to those reported in previous housing studies for the USA, the UK and Sweden.