Demand and supply of real estate market in Turkey : a cointegration analysis

Abstract

Since in a country the housing market is a leading indicator for the whole economy, the determinants, that are affecting aggregate housing supply and demand, are widely searched. In this study, we try to find the variables which are affecting the demand and supply of real estate market in Turkey between the years 1970 to 2007. We can not specialize on the housing market and rather study the real estate market in the aggregate‐‐‐number of dwellings is our quantity measure‐‐‐due to data limitations. We chose Topel and Rosen’s (1988) demand and supply models that are basically based on different short‐ and long‐run elasticity. As demand side independent variables, interest rate, value variable, income and population are chosen and as supply side independent variables, value, interest rate and costs are chosen.Value is used as a proxy since the market price data does not exist in Turkey. Value is a kind of cost that is taken from the builder without interested in what the materials are and how much the labor costs to the builder. Also, the annual data is used because of the data limitations. Due to the fact that all these variables are I(1), Johansen Cointegration and VECM are preferred. According to the empirical findings, the signs of all the variables are as expected and are significant in the long‐run. However, in the short‐run, only interest rate and cost variables are significant in 90% confidence level. Furthermore, the price elasticity of supply is 1.5 in the long‐run while it is 0.13 in the short‐run. This shows us that the adjustment costs for a change in Turkey is significantly high. Moreover, the long‐run price elasticity of demand is ‐4.97.