Posts categorized under Urban Economics

While beneficial for the economic recovery of Portugal, the rising trend as a tourist destination can also generate negative impacts in the population. One important concern is the rising costs of housing, particularly in the city centers. The authors collected data for the period 2011-2014 on Airbnb presence, house prices and rents to quantify the impact of Airbnb’s short-term rentals on housing affordability in Portugal. Caption: Transaction Prices, in €/m2, in civil parishes within Lisbon and Porto.

In 2017, according to the IMob 2017 Travel Survey, 59% of all passenger trips in Lisbon’s Metropolitan Area were made by private car, while public transportation accounted only for approximately 16% of trips. The dependence on private car for travelling in Portugal’s largest metropolitan area increased from 21% in 1991, to 40% in 2001, and 54% in 2011. In contrast, public transport use has substantially reduced, dropping from 56% of all passenger trips in 1991, to 38% in 2001, and 28% in 2011.

Transport infrastructure is an expensive investment and is considered to be an important driver of economic growth. Portugal’s road network remained of poor quality until the last quarter of the 20th century. The country had less than 200 km of motorways before joining the EU in 1986, whereas in 2017 it had the fifth and third highest endowments of motorways relative to population and GDP, respectively, in the EU. This study investigates the factors that influenced the allocation of motorways across municipalities in mainland Portugal between 1981 and 2011.

Portugal moved from having less than 200 km of motorways before joining the European Union in 1986 to having, according to the Eurostat, the fifth highest endowment of motorways relative to population in 2017, and the third relative to GDP in the Union. This paper studies the relationship between the expansion of the Portuguese motorway network between 1981 and 2011 and the growth of population and employment across mainland municipalities.

This paper analyzes housing rental rates at the parish level within municipalities. The analysis explores spatial patterns of housing rents in 4049 Portuguese parishes across 278 municipalities using data from the 2011 Population and Housing Census from the Portuguese National Institute for Statistics. Housing rental rates tend to be higher in parishes with greater population density (measured by the number of citizens living per square kilometer), a higher number of dwellings, and greater potential sustainability (measured as the ratio of working-age population-between 15 and 64 years-to elderly population-aged 65 and over), better mobility (measured as resident population employed outside the territorial unit plus employed non-resident population in the territorial unit divided by employed resident population), and a higher social-diversity ratio (measured as a weighted average of each socioeconomic group), besides the dwelling’s useful area in square meters.

Historic cities are identifiable through their iconic monuments and buildings. Location relative to these structures generate premiums in the housing market. We examine the impact of such historic amenities on housing prices in Lisbon, Portugal. Results reveal heterogeneous impacts from different types of monuments. Churches, palaces and stone architecture have their own unique impact on the market and landmarks generate the highest premiums. Residents value living in proximity to a non-landmark church (yielding a premium of 4.