Does Immigration Raise House Prices? A Question of Correlation and Causation

International migration is an important socio-economic phenomenon for most countries. A large body of research has focused on immigrant outcomes - what happens to migrants in their new countries? How long do they settle? Are they "better off" socially and economically?

One stream of migration research at Motu Economic and Public Policy Research, led by Steven Stillman and David C. Mare, focuses on the impact of immigration on the New Zealand born population and on earlier migrants. This work has explored whether immigration affects where New Zealanders choose to live, and whether it reduces employment opportunities or wages for New Zealanders. In both cases, it appears that immigration has little impact.

This article focuses on immigration and house prices. For this question, it takes a little longer to untangle the factors involved.

Citation

Kennedy, Marianna. 2009. "Does Immigration Raise House Prices? A Question of Correlation and Causation," EcoNZ, 22, 7-9.