Immigration and House Prices in the UK

2014/05/21 by Filipa Sá · 242 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Economics, Econometrics and Finance · #Demographic economics #Demography #Economics #Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis #Geography #House price #Housing Market and Economics #Housing, Finance, and Neoliberalism #Immigration #Labour economics #Lower house #Monetary economics #Political science #Population #Sociology #Wage

paper · doi:10.1111/ecoj.12158

published in The Economic Journal 125(587), 1393-1424 (Oxford University Press)

openalex publication_date 2014/05/21 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06

Abstract

This article studies the effect of immigration on house prices in the UK. It finds that immigration has a negative effect on house prices and presents evidence that this negative effect is due to the mobility response of the native population. Natives respond to immigration by moving to different areas and those who leave are at the top of the wage distribution. This generates a negative income effect on housing demand and pushes down house prices. The negative effect of immigration on house prices is driven by local areas where immigrants have lower education.

Citations

• Immigration and housing rents in American cities
• Networks in the Modern Economy: Mexican Migrants in the U. S. Labor Market
• Immigrant Inflows, Native Outflows, and the Local Labor Market Impacts of Higher Immigration
• Housing supply and housing bubbles
• Who Is Against Immigration? A Cross-Country Investigation of Individual Attitudes toward Immigrants

Cited by

• The effects of immigration on NHS waiting times
• Immigration [wikipedia]

Related

• The effect of foreign investors on local housing markets: evidence from the UK
• Differences in Opportunities? Wage, Employment and House‐Price Effects on Migration*
• Internal migration and house prices in Australia
• The labour market impact of immigration
• The domestic economic impacts of immigration