Abstract

The rise in housing supply is a declared goal of housing policy. Different means are being proposed to reach that goal. On the one hand it is recommended to stimulate demand through housing premium (Wohngeld) and to do without support of supply. On the other hand support of supply is considered as a sensible and promising means but only if it is applied to efficient measures. Particularly publicly-funded housing construction are highly controversial in this context. The evaluation of available empirical as well as theoretical studies has shown that there is no definitive answer to the question. For the time being it doesn't seem very likely that the aspired goal could be efficiently attained merely through a rise in housing premium nor should support of supply do without publicly-funded housing construction.