Effects of Demographic Structure and Tax Policies on Real Estate Prices

Abstract

This paper compared the effects of demographic structure and tax policies on real estate prices by using an overlapping generation model under two situations: real estate as an investment good and real estate as a consumption good. We found that both economic growth rate and market interest rate play the important roles in both situations. In the former situation with real estate as an investment good, when the economic growth rate is higher (lower) than the market interest rate, the youth dependency ratio, the elderly population ratio, real estate tax rate, and income tax rate are reversely (positively) correlated with real estate prices. In the latter situation with real estate as a consumption good, the effect of the young dependency ratio and income tax rate on real estate prices reveals a positive (negative) correlation when the economic growth rate is higher (lower) than the market interest rate .