Can taxation incentivize affordable rental housing? A comparative analysis of experiences

Abstract

We are witnessing a global rise in demand for rental housing. The drivers include labour-market conditions that require greater flexibility, the international mobility of workers, the formation of new households, and young people’s need for emancipation, all against economic backdrops marked by low wages and sharp increases in housing prices. In the absence of affordable rental housing, these groups are unable to meet a vital need and states face serious social problems. If affordability is a precondition for the common good pursued by states, housing must be publicly incentivised, since the availability of housing at market prices is itself becoming a global problem. This paper—after detailing the nature of the challenge in the rental market and the responsibilities that fall to urban and tax policy, especially in Spain—describes the limitations of the current tax regime in its capacity to stimulate the supply of affordable rental housing. An analysis of tax-incentive programmes in the United States, Australia, and Germany opens a discussion of alternative measures and identifies several salient variables—the magnitude of support, its duration, the impact on business models, and constraints to be avoided—that can guide progress toward a tax framework that effectively incentivises affordable rental supply.