Changes in the distribution of rental prices in Berlin

In this paper, I analyze the distribution of rental prices in Berlin using quantile estimates and decomposition methods. These methods have been rarely applied in the field of housing economics but have proven to offer relevant insights into the evolution of price distributions. The shift of rental prices from 2007 to 2012 is split into portions caused by changes in the distributions of the explanatory variables and by changes in their coefficients over time. Two main results stand out: firstly, quantile estimates illustrate the constraint of a mean regression as most coefficients differ substantially between quantiles; secondly, coefficients are the primary source of temporal difference in the distribution of rental prices. On the other hand, changing properties of flats being offered affect the increase in the rental price distribution relatively little.