This article evaluates how two policy interventions in Berlin, Germany, have affected the supply of Airbnb listings in the city. We exploit this policy-induced variation to assess how Airbnb affects Berlin's rental market. Both interventions significantly reduced the overall number of Airbnb...

We exploit two policy interventions in Berlin, Germany, to causally identify the impact of Airbnb on rental markets. While the first intervention significantly reduced the number of high availability Airbnb listings bookable for most of the year, the second intervention led to the exit of mostly...

Rising rents in German cities have led to an intense debate about the need for tighter rent controls in housing markets. In April 2015, the so-called rental brake was introduced, which imposes upper bounds for rents in new contracts, in order to immediately slow down the increase of rents in...

This paper empirically analyzes the effects of a second generation rent control. We make use of an uncommon policy intervention in the German housing market and translate the generated variation into a difference-and-differences setup, augmented with elements of a discontinuity design, to...

Residential heating is responsible for one-fifth of Germany’s energy consumption. Heating costs were around 562 euros per year for an average apartment in 2016, which is more than a 13th month’s rent minus heating costs (Kaltmiete). These are the findings of the 2016 Heat Monitor, published...

This paper studies market segmentation that arises from the introduction of a price ceiling in the market for rental housing. When part of the market faces rent control, theory predicts an increase of free-market rents, a consequence of misallocation of households to housing units. We study a...