Is a refugee crisis a housing crisis? Only if housing supply is unresponsive

Sandra V. Rozo, Micaela Sviatschi

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

What are the impacts of large inflows of refugees on refugee-hosting housing markets? We examine the effects of the arrival of 1.3 million Syrian refugees on the housing expenditures and income of Jordanian nationals. For this purpose, we exploit that refugees disproportionately locate around the three largest refugee camps after the beginning of the Syrian conflict in 2011. Larger refugee inflows are reflected in two main trends: higher housing expenditures of all Jordanians and increments in rental income of individuals that own real estate property. The effects are explained by the large spike in rental prices that resulted from the higher demand for housing units and the unresponsive housing supply in refugee-hosting areas.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number102563
JournalJournal of Development Economics
Volume148
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 2021

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Development
  • Economics and Econometrics

Keywords

  • Forced migration
  • Housing markets
  • Refugees

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