DEMOGRAPHICS OF INDIVIDUAL HOUSING DEMAND

There has been little systematic treatment of demographic variables in the housing literature. This paper reviews methods used to include demographic variables in demand systems. It then discusses their inclusion in a system of housing demand equations in which tenure choice and demand are jointly determined and estimated. Explanatory power is enhanced substantially in both the tenure choice and the demand regressions by demographic variables. Elasticities at means are not substantively changed by demographic variables, but elasticities away from the means are sensitive to their inclusion. Blacks are slightly more likely to own than whites, all else equal; white demand, however, is 4.5 to 26.5 percent higher than black demand. © 1990.