Abstract
Since the United States (U.S.) Supreme Court established in 1926 that land use regulations are an acceptable power of the government, it becomes concerning regarding how it would affect housing affordability. With the population residing in urban areas continuing to grow, the limiting factor to housing supply is the application of land use regulation. This thesis analyzes the effects of land use regulation on housing prices in the US by estimating ordinary least squares regression models with fixed effects using similar data from past literature. Housing data from Zillow’s Home Value Index (ZHVI), land use regulation data from Wharton Residential Land Use Regulation Index (WRLURI), population data from the US Census Bureau, and CPI data from FRED are collected from each of the 50 US states by month and county for the years 2014 to 2023. The results report an increase in housing prices when land use regulation increases, which supports previous literature. Overall, this thesis contributes to the existing literature on the effect of land use regulation on housing prices by illustrating that counties with more land use regulation have higher housing prices.