Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/320557 
Year of Publication: 
2025
Series/Report no.: 
GLO Discussion Paper No. 1629
Publisher: 
Global Labor Organization (GLO), Essen
Abstract: 
In 2018, Minneapolis became the first U.S. city to eliminate single-family zoning through the Minneapolis 2040 Plan, with a central focus on improving housing affordability. Using a synthetic control approach, this paper finds that the reform reduced the growth of housing costs over the subsequent five years: home prices were 16-34% lower and rents 17.5-34% lower than a counterfactual Minneapolis. Placebo tests show these declines were the steepest among 83 donor cities (p=0.012). The effects are consistent across multiple robustness exercises and are not the result of new housing supply, but are likely due to weakened housing demand.
Subjects: 
zoning reform
land use regulation
house prices
rental prices
synthetic control
JEL: 
R52
R30
R58
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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