Thick-market effects, housing heterogeneity, and the determinants of transaction seasonality

Abstract

This article uses cross-sectional variation in transaction seasonality and a search-theoretic framework to develop a test for thick-market effects from matching efficiency. The test relates the extent of transaction seasonality to the degree of horizontal housing heterogeneity. We find a strong positive association between measures of seasonality and housing heterogeneity using a transaction level dataset for Norway, which is consistent with the presence of thick-market effects. These results also show that the degree of horizontal heterogeneity of the housing stock is an important determinant of the extent of seasonality in a housing market.