Na quarta-feira, dia 18 de março, entre as 13h00 e as 14h00, tem lugar uma sessão dos ISEG Research Seminars. O orador convidado será João Pereira dos Santos.
Os Seminários ISEG Research decorrem semanalmente, às quartas-feiras, contando com a participação de docentes do ISEG, bem como de outras instituições de ensino nacionais e internacionais.
Title
Can Abolishing Transaction Taxes Help the Young? (with Carolina Nunes and José Pedro Sousa)
Abstract
We examine the effects of a property transaction tax and stamp duty exemption for first-time home-buyers below 35 years old in Portugal. Leveraging comprehensive administrative records covering the universe of real estate transactions merged with personal income tax records, we exploit discontinuities in the policy design to document the effects on the number of transactions and house prices. Our findings indicate that the tax exemption resulted in substantial compositional shifts in the age distribution of buyers immediately following the policy’s introduction, driven by an increase of around 30% in house purchases by eligible buyers. While the prices of properties bought by young eligible buyers remained stable, we find suggestive evidence of negative spillover effects for older non-eligible buyers, with an increase of 5% in house prices in the post-reform period. We further analyze the role of income in shaping house-buying decisions and the likelihood of moving as a consequence of the tax exemption.
