Bricks or Cash? Externalities of Housing Upgrading in High-density Cities

2026-09-18

AI Summary

研究通过新加坡公共住房升级计划，评估了高密度城市中住房升级对房价的影响及其外部性，发现升级提升了处理建筑及邻近建筑的价格。

Abstract

We estimate housing externalities in a high-density city, exploiting the staggered rollout of Singapore's nationwide Main Upgrading Programme for public housing. Controlling for nonrandom neighborhood exposure, we find that upgrading raises treated buildings' prices by 11.5% upon completion and neighboring buildings' resale prices by about 2% within 500 meters, decaying to zero beyond. A model with distance-decaying externalities shows that in dense settings spillovers justify the distortions of in-kind provision; this advantage diminishes and reverses at lower densities. Administrative data on over 2 million residents show that upgrading disproportionately retains older incumbents, suggesting age-specific amenities as an underexplored externality channel.

Problem

• Housing Upgrading
• High-density Cities
• Externalities
• Resale Prices
• Neighborhood Exposure

Innovation

• Housing Upgrading
• Externalities
• High-density Cities
• Distance-decaying Effects