Housing markets and regional unemployment flows in Great Britain.

Over the past 20 years, there has been a great deal of interest from academic economists and policymakers in the UK in the contribution of the housing market to regional disparities in unemployment. However, despite a considerable body of research, there remains a great deal of uncertainty concerning the role played by different features of the housing market in shaping the regional pattern of unemployment. In this study, we aim to gain a deeper understanding of this issue by examining the relationship between housing market variables and the flows into and out of regional unemployment. Our findings indicate that both the level of regional house prices and the housing tenure mix have significant effects on the rate of flows into and out of regional unemployment and hence upon the equilibrium rate of unemployment in a region. In particular, we find that regions with a relatively high level of house prices and/or a low proportion of social rented housing will tend to have a relatively low equilibrium rate of unemployment, other things equal