Abstract
The communist regime in the German Democratic Republic (GDR) curtailed property rights in the urban land market through expropriation, forced administration, rationing, and restrained marketability. After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, well-defined property rights had to be reestablished to restore competitive urban land markets under German laws. We examine the revival process from 1990-2008 for East Berlin, the capital of the former GDR. West Berlin, which always had a market-based land market, is used as comparator. We find that the revival of the East Berlin land market and substantial investment support resulted in a swift convergence in the composition of the housing stock and in the pricing behavior in both parts of Berlin.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 19-29 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of Housing Economics |
Volume | 42 |
Early online date | 6 Feb 2018 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - Dec 2018 |
Bibliographical note
We are grateful for comments and suggestions by two anonymous referees, Paul Cheshire and Christian Hilber (the guest editors), Jens Kolbe, Euan Phimister, and Verity Watson. We thank Michaela Beeck, Brit Boche, and Gabriele Knopf from the Statistical Office Berlin-Brandenburg for their help with some of the data. The usual disclaimer applies.Keywords
- property rights
- urban land market
- housing