The use of temporary price and
rent controls to help win World War II is hard to criticize, but the next nationwide effort of its kind had a less admirable foundation.
MAYBE Dan Cookson head of research, Lettingweb for PRS 4 Scotland Where forms of
rent control exist, such as in Berlin, they have been balanced by strong tax incentives and land releases designed to promote supply and encourage investment in the sector.
New Jersey is one of four states plus Washington DC to have
rent control on privately-financed and built rental apartments.
More surprisingly, the authors also find a "large and significant" spillover impact from the removal of
rent controls onto the valuation of never-controlled properties.
In an extended research article published today, the pros and cons of
rent control regimes in about 40 countries are reviewed by the Global Property Guide (http://www.
Task force members weren't sure why an economist didn't take part, but say they looked at studies and understood that
rent control options had failed in the past.
Clearly, many factors besides
rent control lead people to migrate from one town to another.
Their third observation is that
rent controls do not solve the problems of the poor in urban housing markets and that providing affordable housing for the poor must be accomplished by other means.
The concept of shadow markets offers a reasonable explanation of why the results of
rent controls are so perverse and why they lead to a sense of helplessness and panic in a rent-controlled population.
If anything, the end of
rent control promises to produce dividends for local treasuries and new housing for tenants.
In contrast, the last time New York lifted
rent controls -- in the early seventies -- no boom followed.
In 1992 and 1993 Cambridge landlords, rather than seeking abandonment of the city's
rent controls in the political arena, challenged the plan in court and lost.
